MANCHESTER UNITED are no longer the destination they used to be.
In days of old, players far and wide would dream of wearing the famous red shirt while walking out at Old Trafford.
But the times they are a changing – with stars now preferring to join the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool and… erm, RB Leipzig.
With United failing to get a deal for Adrien Rabiot over the line, let’s take a look at an XI of players that the Red Devils have been snubbed by during the last 12 months.
Goalkeeper Dean Henderson is technically still on United’s books, having joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the season.
But he revealed earlier this month that he was desperate not to have to train under Erik ten Hag.
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He told talkSPORT: “I didn’t really want the manager to see me in training because I knew he’d probably want to keep me.
“I told all the hierarchy: ‘I need to go and play football. I don’t want to be playing second fiddle’. And it panned out so I was almost gone before the manager came in.”
Ajax defender Jurrien Timber could have followed Ten Hag to Old Trafford… but decided against it after being warned by Louis van Gaal that it could cost him a place at the World Cup.
Man United liked Antonio Rudiger and monitored his situation at Chelsea closely last season.
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But the German instead decided to join European champions Real Madrid, rather than Europa League-dwellers United.
Matthijs de Ligt was another long-term United target who had played under Ten Hag at Ajax, but he preferred to join German champions Bayern.
Kalvin Phillips was flattered by interest from Old Trafford but admitted he could never have joined them, out of loyalty to their rivals Leeds.
The England star instead joined Manchester City, leaving United reeling.
Frenkie de Jong has been the Red Devils’ biggest summer transfer target, but the Dutchman has shown absolutely no indication that the feeling is mutual.
He appears likely to try and stay at Barcelona, while Chelsea have emerged as a more realistic landing spot than United if he is to move on.
A deal for Rabiot has fallen through over his wage demands, while Kingsley Coman opted to pen a new Bayern deal rather than possibly go to United.
Benjamin Sesko recently opted to stay at RB Salzburg for another year before joining RB Leipzig in 2023, when a move to Old Trafford could have been on the cards.
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While Darwin Nunez was a key Red Devils target before telling Jurgen Klopp and Co that he would turn down United in favour of forcing through a move to Liverpool.
United chiefs dreamed of signing Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for virtually his entire spell in Germany, only to be beaten to his signature by Manchester City.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
