Here we go again.
Mats Hummels looks to have dodged one.
In the summer of 2018, Manchester United contacted Tottenham about Toby Alderweireld and thought they had a chance of signing Diego Godin. They also claimed they were prepared to pay £100m for Raphael Varane.
They ended up playing Barcelona at the Nou Camp with Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Ashley Young comprising 75% of their back four.
This summer, United seem intent on addressing their long-running right back issue by getting in Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace. As for the centre of defence, they have been linked with Harry Maguire (Leicester), Issa Diop (West Ham) and Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli).
There has been little mention of Aldeweireld and Godin, this time around, while not even Ed Woodward and his supporters are brave enough to bring up Varane this time.
The club reportedly did make a last-ditch effort to get German international Mats Hummels over to Old Trafford.
This is the same crack United transfer team, you will recall, that famously botched the Ander Herrera deal, in 2013 before denying they were ever interested in him. Herrera then signed 12 months later.
Bild has run a report claiming United contacted representatives of Hummels when it became clear he was going to leave Bayern Munich. A switch back to Borussia Dortmund was heavily covered in the press but United chanced their arm.
Hummels was offered €12m a year but opted to return to Dortmund, where he was long revered before his big-money move to Bayern. United sources have put a narrative out there that the club are looking to get in young prospects and are done with splashing money on big contracts for players in and around their 30s.
However, with the prospect of Hummels leaving Bayern, United may have been tempted to ditch that policy to try get some steel, and class, back in their defence.
Hummels is destined for Dortmund, though, in a deal worth €38m and United are back to the drawing board. Victor Lindelof is said to be the central defender Solskjaer wants to pair a new signing up with.
Napoli are demanding an audacious £90m for Koulibaly and West Ham are demanding £60m for Diop, so United are now zeroing in on England international Maguire. Leicester are talking about an £80m deal but United would be hoping for something closer to £65m.
There is no huge interest in Maguire from Manchester City but the club are being linked with the player in the hope that United – as they did with Alexis Sanchez – take an expensive plunge to deny their neighbours.
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