For a month or two after a transfer window ends, there’s often claims of approaches that were made for players which went under the radar and turned out to be unsuccessful.
That usually relates to smaller moves, given the larger sagas don’t often stay completely secret. However, this week’s edition of SportBild details a serious Manchester United approach for Bayer Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby.
The 21-year-old made 39 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen last season, the vast majority of them on the left wing, and scored eight goals and managed the same number of assists.
An impressive record for a youngster, but probably not the profile of player Manchester United were keenest on. Nevertheless, SportBild say Manchester City have been interested for some time, driven by manager Pep Guardiola, and United went a step further, making a ‘specific request’ for the player.
As far as SportBild have it, the Red Devils were willing to pay ‘up to €50m’ for Diaby during the last window. Bayer Leverkusen rejected that and are now working on a contract extension.
The German club’s sport director Rudi Völler is quoted as saying: “It wasn’t just Kai Havertz this summer. We had three or four other players who were the focus of foreign clubs. One of them was Moussa Diaby.”
Leaking such claims, whether true or not, makes Völler and Leverkusen look strong in the face of interest from big clubs, and also hypes up Diaby’s value for future markets.
