Manchester United were among the club’s interested in signing Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa.
That is according to Jason Burt of The Telegraph, who reports that the Red Devils considered making a bid earlier in the summer.
The squad has been in desperate need of midfield reinforcement for a number of years.
But the departures of Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba brought that need into sharp focus in this window.
However, United have only managed to add Christian Eriksen to the team, arguably leaving them in a worse position than they were before the window started.
Douglas Luiz would certainly have given Erik ten Hag a different profile of player to work with in his first season.
While he could possibly have been an upgrade on Scott McTominay, it is unclear if the Brazilian would be of the required quality to take United to regular Champions League qualification.
While he is an important part of Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa side, Douglas is hardly regarded for his quality on the ball.
Such quality seems to be of great importance to Ten Hag, who instead placed Frenkie de Jong at the top of his wish list some months ago.
United are still waiting for a conclusion to the De Jong saga.
For Douglas Luiz, the saga never really took off, with Aston Villa rejecting a £30m bid from Newcastle back in January and now set to sign a new contract at Villa Park in the coming days.
An “imminent” announcement of a three-year deal is expected as the player looks to prove Manchester City wrong for allowing him to leave for £15m three years ago.
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