Manchester United at one point made an astonishing £83.5million bid for the transfer of Ansu Fati before his Barcelona career ended up nosediving.
The Spain international looked like a real wonderkid when he first burst onto the scene at Barca, looking hugely impressive for their senior side after rising up through their academy.
This led to Man Utd trying an audacious offer for him while his stock was on the rise, though they ultimately failed with a bid of £83.5m for the player, according to The Athletic.
Fati, still only 21 years of age, has since gone on to have some injury struggles, while his general form has also undoubtedly gone downhill, with just four goals in 27 appearances in a forgettable loan spell at Brighton last season.
Fati transfer: A bullet dodged by Manchester United
Fati is now back at Barcelona and their fans will be hoping he can somehow revive his career, though it’s not looking like it’ll be easy to even see much playing time with wingers like Raphinha and Lamine Yamal in such superb form at the moment.
Hansi Flick is doing an impressive job as Barca boss, so it might be that the German tactician can help Fati turn his career around, but overall, it looks like a long way back for the player who could’ve ended up moving to Old Trafford for huge money.
United have splashed a lot of cash on poorly-thought-out signings in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, and it looks like this would undoubtedly have been another major error in judgement by the club.
The Red Devils’ bid for Fati came in 2020, according to The Athletic, and, in fairness, they ended up making similar mistakes with the costly signings of Jadon Sancho in 2021 and then Antony in 2022 – two other wingers whose careers have majorly gone downhill in recent times.