MANCHESTER UNITED reportedly offered two players to Atalanta in their pursuit of Rasmus Hojlund, but the Italian outfit insisted on cash only.
The Red Devils landed their man this summer in a £72million move, but they tried their best to get a deal over the line for less.
According to The Athletic, Atalanta were steadfast on getting what they wanted for their star striker.
And if you asked Atalanta’s head of senior recruitment, that would have been £87m.
And although they didn’t manage to pull in that much cash they still got their way.
The report suggests that United were hoping to offset the cost of the 20-year-old by trying to strike up a deal that would see two players go the other way.
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It is said that both Donny van de Beek and Fred were offered up to Atalanta during negotiations.
But it was never an option for the Serie A said who were only interested in a sizeable transfer fee.
In fact it was their reluctance to come down in price that dragged out negotiations with United understood to have made a list of backup options just in case an agreement wasn’t reached.
Randal Kolo Muani was one of the names considered by the Manchester giants, but he ended up making the switch to PSG instead in a deal worth £77m.
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In the end Erik ten Hag got his man and Hojlund made his way to Old Trafford to be the historic club’s latest marquee signing.
But even then it hasn’t been without its issues after the Danish international arrived at Carrington with an injury.
It meant Hojlund missed the club’s first three league games of the season before making his debut off the bench in a 3-1 away loss to Arsenal.
But all is well for the £72m man now with his fitness up to scratch and his goal scoring underway.
He bagged his first United goal during their 4-3 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and will be hoping he can find the net again when they travel to Turf Moor to face Burnley tonight.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
