£100 million star was close to joining Manchester United

Manchester United find themselves in a tricky position right now. The club had enjoyed a tremendous summer transfer window, signing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Tom Heaton, and many expected them to put up a challenge for the Premier League title this time around. It is safe to say that it has not turned out as most fans would have envisioned coming into the campaign.

Manchester United are out of the League Cup and are sitting at 8th in the Premier League table, already 12 points from the top.

They have also parted ways with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, after almost three years in charge, and have brought in Ralf Rangnick as the club’s interim manager till the end of the season.

Amidst all this, Manchester City star Jack Grealish has revealed the he was really close to joining Manchester United in the summer of 2020. As reported by The Sun, he told The Telegraph:

"“I was really close to going [to Manchester United], but nothing happened in the end.“We played United in a pre-season game on Saturday and I wasn’t supposed to play in a cup game at Burton.“But after the United game I said to [Christian] Purslow and my agent [David Manasseh]‘if I’m not leaving, I’ll sign my new contract’.”"

Grealish has revealed he was close to joining Manchester United

Grealish stayed at Aston Villa that season but has since then gone on to join Manchester City for a £100 million transfer fee, becoming the most expensive player in Premier League history in the process.

Of course, it has not been smooth sailing for Grealish since then either. He has not made the impact that most people would have expected from him since joining Manchester City and it remains to be seen if he can eventually justify the transfer fee that Pep Guardiola’s side decided to shell out for him.

On the other hand though, Manchester United could have probably done with a player like Grealish in their team at this point of time. Someone who can conjure up something out of almost nothing, when at the top of his game. And one can only wonder how things would have gone if the move had actually happened in the summer of 2020.