Manchester United were very close to signing Benjamin Pavard from Bayern Munich, but the deal was scrapped due to Harry Maguire’s decision to stay.
The Red Devils were open to parting ways with Maguire during the summer transfer window, and a verbal agreement was reached with West Ham United.
However, a transfer never materialised in the end. The centre-back was unwilling to discuss personal terms as he wanted a huge pay-off to leave the club.
Speaking to The United Stand, Fabrizio Romano has now revealed that Pavard wanted to come to United, and a deal was almost done on the player’s side.
The reputed journalist added that United were also in advanced talks with Bayern, and were prepared to match Inter’s proposal for Pavard (€30-32 million).
The plan was to offload Maguire to sign Pavard. A transfer did not happen as a result.
He said: “Pavard wanted to come to Manchester United. The deal was almost done on the player’s side, and was advanced on club side.”
“Manchester United were prepared to pay what Inter paid for Pavard, something in the region of 30-32 million euros.
“So to put the money from Maguire on Pavard, they could change their defence, but the deal did not happen because of the Maguire situation.”
United are currently without centre-back Raphael Varane due to an injury. The World Cup winner could be out of action for another couple of weeks.
This leaves Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans as the fit central defenders.
We saw the worst case scenario against Arsenal where both Martinez and Lindelof were substituted due to a foot problem and an illness respectively.
Maguire and Evans looked vulnerable against the Gunners’ attack, and they paid the price in the end with Mikel Arteta’s side scoring two late goals.
In our view, United should have signed an upgrade on Maguire in the last transfer window, and it could hamper them if there is another injury crisis.
Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo was a late transfer target for United this summer, and the club should consider a fresh approach for him at the turn of the year.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
