Manchester United passed on opportunity to sign FWA Player of the Year Ruben Dias before rivals – report

Someone has egg on their face and we know Ed Woodward is busy trying to escape with scratches.

Manchester United passed on the chance to sign Ruben Dias two years before he signed for Man City, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The report states manager at the time, Jose Mourinho, had knowledge of Dias due to his contacts at Benfica and through his own agent Jorge Mendes, who represents both Dias and Mourinho.

The centre-back was 21 at the time and he played against United twice that season in the Champions League group stages.

This week Dias, 24, was voted the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year.

Let’s not act as though City got him on the cheap, though. Not that it matters because they ended up acquiring a top defender and something we are in desperate need of.

City signed Dias for a club-record £64.3m in the summer – money well spent.

The MEN adds: “Mourinho shortlisted Dias with Harry Maguire, Kalidou Koulibaly, Milan Skriniar, Diego Godin, Jerome Boateng, and Nikola Milenkovic. Leicester valued Maguire at £75m and United bought him for £80m a year later amid competition from City.”

That paragraph alone is a complete joke and shows real incompetence on our board’s behalf.

Truly shocking.

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