Manchester United made it clear that Jose Mourinho would have their backing in the transfer market last summer.
The Portuguese was welcomed to Old Trafford with a huge kitty and was permitted to splash out on the likes of Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Eric Bailly.
Yet, it seems the Red Devils were even prepared to spend another £85million on a rather surprising target – Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller.
According to Bayern’s financial backer Jan-Christian Dreeson, United made close to a record bid for the Germany international, who has been thoroughly underwhelming all season.
Dreeson told Bild:
“There really was something like that (£85million).
“Then came a fax from England. For us, however, a sale of Thomas Müller was never discussed. If a player fits us, we would be stupid to give him a short-term prospect of a record profit and to weaken him.”
Ultimately, Bayern rejected the deal and it worked out well for United. Instead of the World Cup winner, they eventually sealed a deal for Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer, with the Swede having gone on to score 19 goals this season.
The club aren’t likely to keep their money for long in any case, with Antoine Griezmann set to be the subject of another bid in excess of £85million in the summer.
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