Manchester United were linked to a number of midfield players in the summer when it was clear that the club needed reinforcements.
With Fred leaving the club, Donny van de Beek out of favour and Scott McTominay linked with the likes of Newcastle United, it was expected that United would be looking to reinforce their numbers.
Despite announcing Mason Mount, there wasn’t much movement as it was viewed that United were biding their time before making a move for Sofyan Amrabat.
Now it has emerged that United had made a bid for another midfielder in the summer and actually had an offer accepted by the player’s club, only for The Red Devils to pull out of the deal.
Premier League Brasil are reporting that Manchester United had an official £8m bid accepted by Palmeiras for young midfielder Gabriel Menino in the summer transfer window.
Menino, who has been previously linked with the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid in the past, is someone who has been touted for big things for a while but hasn’t quite made it to the next level. Due to that, Palmeiras were happy to accept the bid for a player that the United scouting team felt would be perfect for Erik ten Hag’s preferred method of play.
However, the publication goes on to say that United pulled out of the deal as they switched their focus to other problem areas of the side and left the Menino deal on the negotiating table.
Despite Menino not quite hitting the heights that he had promised earlier in his career, it’s quite possible that The Red Devils’s scouting team felt that it was a relatively low risk strategy to buy a player of potential for less than £10m.
It’s likely that United’s failure to move on the likes of McTominay and van de Beek, as well as the injuries suffered by Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia, meant United felt that Menino wasn’t as high a priority and therefore moved on.
It’ll be interesting to see if United revisit this transfer again in January or at the end of the season.
