The Athletic‘s Laurie Whitwell has rubbished reports that Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag flew out to Portugal in order to hold talks about signing Benfica’s Darwin Nunez.
It was claimed in the Portuguese media that ten Hag travelled to have a meeting with Nunez’s agent, Jorge Mendes, in order to try and hijack Liverpool’s move for the Uruguayan, but Whitwell says this is not true:
“United held initial discussions on Nunez several weeks ago, hence the widespread and consistent reporting. Liverpool’s interest prompted another flurry of articles. As Cristiano Ronaldo is staying, United have other priorities at that type of fee though, and the suggestion Ten Hag boarded a flight to talk to Jorge Mendes.”
Further reports yesterday suggested that United were prepared to trump Liverpool’s €100m (£85m) bid for Nunez by offering more money up front, but the general feeling is that the striker has already made his decision to join Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Other teams (including Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham) have also been credited with an interest in the 22-year-old but, at the time of writing, the player appears to be set to complete a switch to Anfield. Where that leaves United in their search for a forward, we shall have to wait and see.