Player reveals Manchester United ‘didn’t have enough money’ to sign him from PL side

Marko Arnautović has revealed Manchester United failed signing him when he was at West Ham United.

The forward spent two seasons with the Hammers before leaving them for Shanghai Port in the summer of 2019.

José Mourinho was at Manchester United for the majority of the 33-year-old’s spell at West Ham. The Portuguese tactician had managed him at Inter Milan and wanted to reunite with him at Old Trafford.

Gazzetta dello Sport’s weekly magazine, Sportweek, interviewed the Austrian, where he opened about his failed move to Manchester United. The current Bologna player has also detailed why the Red Devils couldn’t take him away from West Ham.

“José wanted me when I was at West Ham. He asked me how much I cost. But then United didn’t have enough money to sign me, because they had already bought Pogba,” Voce Giallo Rossa quoted him as saying.

Arnautović’s comment would suggest Mourinho wanted him at Manchester United in 2016, but the operation was made difficult because of Paul Pogba’s return to Old Trafford for €100m in the same window.

The Premier League side signed Zlatan Ibrahimović in 2016, while Arnautović was at Stoke City. He joined West Ham a year later. The timeline mentioned doesn’t seem to add up.

Earlier this year, Manchester United tried signing Arnautović, but the deal reportedly didn’t take shape following a protest from a large section of the English club’s supporters.