As it was revealed by AS, Erik ten Hag would have rather signed Frenkie de Jong than Casemiro.
The Dutch midfielder was linked with Manchester United throughout the summer transfer window. However, the Red Devils’ board were not convinced with Barcelona during the negotiation process.
The Catalan outfit put a €85m price tag on De Jong and Manchester United were not keen on meeting the player’s salary, which is just shy of €400,000 a week.
However, Real Madrid were much more proactive in trying to make the Casemiro transfer happen. It didn’t take long for negotiations to arrive at the €72m fee.
While the Premier League side’s board has met all of Erik ten Hag’s other wishes, the Manchester United coach was left disappointed as the club are lacking bodies in their midfield following the departures of Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matić, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata.
The Red Devils lost their first game of their Europa League campaign at home against Real Sociedad 1-0.
GSFN
