Willian Jose has hit out at Real Sociedad for blocking a potential transfer to Manchester United last summer.
I admittedly don’t recall many links to this deal, but Jose eventually left the La Liga club in the January transfer window, signing for Wolves.
Obviously, a move to United never happened — but La Real were not interested in doing a deal with the Red Devils.
Chatting with journalist Jorge Nicola, representative Nick Arcuri says United, Barcelona, Tottenham and Newcastle were all interested in the 28-year-old at the time. [H/t Sport Witness].
“So I tell everyone, just in this January market, he had, that’s official, alright Jorge? He had Barcelona, he had Tottenham, he had Manchester United, he had Newcastle. Then, just there, again, he speaks for himself,” said Arcuri.
Jose has now confirmed there was an offer but it was rejected by his former club.
“I think they have not treated me well,” he told Noticias de Gipuzkoa.
“I expected a little more. When I renewed, I had spoken with Roberto Olabe that there were some interested teams, from the Premier and also from the League.
“I spoke with Roberto, and he told me that if a big team came to play in the Champions League, they would let me go. I stayed calm.
“Then came Barcelona and an offer from Manchester United. I saw that it was an opportunity that I could not miss because life is like that. You have to take advantage of opportunities, and I saw that it was the opportunity.
“In the end, things did not go well, and this year they let me go to the Wolves.
“I don’t understand why a few months ago they didn’t want to let me out for 23 million and now they have let me out. Soccer is sometimes difficult to understand.”
United ended up signing Edinson Cavani on a Bosman last summer — but that came with a hit to the wage bill. I’d imagine Jose’s demands would have been a lot less and thoughts of having him over Cavani would make me pessimistic.
On the other hand, it’s a sad case for Jose.
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