Lest we forget, they signed a big fat zero in the end.
Florentino Perez seems like a decent sort so we have no reason not to believe his claims that Manchester United were hot on at least four Real Madrid players this summer.
The English club’s pursuit of Sergio Ramos came to zilch of course, but the Real Madrid president has now revealed that Louis van Gaal has his eye on three other key first team players as well.
He claims that Ed Woodward contacted the La Liga side over the possible sale of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane.
According to various reports, Perez told a Spanish radio station that United did not make a bid for Bale but did enquire about three first-team players:
‘No, that is a lie. We know that United showed interest in Bale, [Karim] Benzema and [Raphael] Varane.
‘I never saw Ramos leaving this club; he was never close to doing so. Manchester United meddled in the situation.
‘Those who want to do harm to Real Madrid meddle but nothing really happened, nothing more than happens every summer.’
Perez has also put the boot into poor old Ed Woodward, and has claimed the club are now ‘inexperienced’ in trying to sort out transfer deals.
If it happens to the same team what happened with Pedro and with [Nicolas] Otamendi then it points to a lack of experience.’
‘It’s the inexperience of the new people in charge.
Perez was also asked about the shambles that became the David De Gea transfer and was adamant that the fault was with Manchester United and the alleged eight hour delay.
