Sofyan Amrabat could make his first Old Trafford appearance for Manchester United in Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup tie against Crystal Palace following a brief debut off the bench at Burnley, but it’s emerged that the Moroccan was just hours away from becoming a Liverpool player this summer.
Liverpool’s interest in Amrabat is no secret, with Jurgen Klopp said to have phoned the 27-year-old midfielder personally to try and persuade him to move to Anfield from Fiorentina to help fill the gaps left by Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner.
United Confidential can reveal that Klopp was a whisker away from getting his man until a last-minute hitch held up the deal and Liverpool signed Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich for £34.2million instead.
The problem is believed to have arisen inside the Amrabat camp. Talks were put on hold for 24 hours and it was during this period that Liverpool decided to go back to Gravenberch who, at 21, was viewed as a younger and better fit for Klopp’s needs.
Amrabat is now in the process of changing agents from Stellar to Sports Entertainment Group, who were involved in his move to Old Trafford. United paid a £8.5m loan fee on deadline day to sign the Dutch-born player for the rest of the season with the option to buy him for £21.4m next summer.
Unity has been the watchword at United during a bumpy start to the season, and Erik ten Hag organised a barbecue for the families of his players and staff at Carrington on Sunday.
The United squad turned up for the event which was well received by the players following an equally popular club-wide event at Old Trafford last month.
The families were treated to what was described as a healthy barbecue, with a number of activities laid on for the children including a bouncy castle, face-painting and entertainers.
Ten Hag wanted to recognise the effort put in by the club’s staff support network as well as the players, and is said to have made his way around the room chatting with family members.
The event is said to have been planned some weeks ago and Saturday night’s morale-boosting win at Burnley meant it went with a swing.
While Jadon Sancho continues to train alone in the naughty corner using United’s academy facilities, some of the youth-team players have moved in the opposite direction to work with the first-team squad this week.
Under-18s players James Nolan, Louis Jackson, Ethan Wheatley and Ethan Williams were involved in Monday’s session ahead of the cup tie against Palace.
Meanwhile, there appears no end sight to Sancho’s isolation with the £73m star frozen out after refusing to apologise to Erik ten Hag for publicly challenging his manager’s reasons for dropping him at Arsenal earlier this month.
United fans are being surveyed on their views on the new Sunday 6.30pm kick-off time that is set to be introduced as part of the latest TV deal.
The Manchester United Supporters Trust has asked if fans are for, against or unsure about the Sunday evening slot in a poll on X, formerly known as Twitter, amid concerns it will cause yet more chaos for matchgoing supporters.
At the time of writing, nearly three-quarters of more than 3,300 responses are against. The Football Supporters Association said they ‘100 per cent oppose’ the Sunday 6.30pm kick-off time, describing it as a ‘shocking idea’.
United fans have been handed a kinder than usual schedule by the broadcasters this season, with five of their opening seven home Premier League games kicking off at the traditional time of 3pm on a Saturday.
But supporters heading to Sheffield United for the clash at Bramall Lane at 8pm on Saturday, October 21 will face a race against time to catch the last train to Manchester, which leaves around 25 minutes after the match is due to finish.
