Manchester United have exchanged business with Real Madrid on several occasions over the last few years, with the most recent deal being Casemiro’s big-money move to Old Trafford over the summer.
Before that, Raphael Varane also switched the Santiago Bernabeu for the Theatre of Dreams whilst although many supporters would like to forget it, Angel di Maria also did it in 2014.
During that time period, United have also been close to completing a number of deals with Real Madrid, with David de Gea, Sergio Ramos and Keylor Navas among those to have moves scuppered after talks.
There is, however, one Real Madrid player who is now becoming increasingly unlikely to become a Red after it was revealed that Manchester City have inserted a clause into his contract with the Los Blancos.
That’s Brahim Diaz, the creative attacker who is currently on loan at AC Milan. Diaz is a regular starter for the Italian giants but is due back in Madrid at the end of this season.
According to Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport, via The Sun, Manchester City made sure that they were protected if United ever came calling for the Spaniard.
As per the report, when City sold him to Real Madrid in 2019, they inserted an ‘anti-Manchester United’ clause, meaning that should Real Madrid accept a bid from the Old Trafford club, City are entitled to 40% of the transfer fee.
That would almost certainly rule out Real Madrid entertaining any sort of talks with United over the transfer of Diaz, with any deal with any other club seeing them earn more.
SN’s verdict…
It’s not entirely unusual for clubs to protect themselves in a sale but clauses to repel specific clubs are not as common as one might assume.
Realistically, there is not a great chance of United gaining a sudden interest in Diaz – they already have some of the best players in the world in that position.
As things stand, it’s likely that Milan will be looking to make their loan deal permanent for Diaz and in any event that United would be interested, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where they would be successful.
