Barcelona star rejected Man Utd in January with INEOS ‘willing to offer around’ £58m

Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez was the subject of strong interest from Man Utd and Aston Villa during the January transfer window, according to reports.

Man Utd spent around £180m on new signings in the summer transfer window as they looked to support Erik ten Hag ahead of the new season.

However, just nine Premier League matches into the new season, the Red Devils made the decision to sack Ten Hag and hire Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon.

There appeared to be very limited money to spend to help Amorim improve his squad in January with Patrick Dorgu ending up as their only winter signing.

But there were multiple reports explaining that they attempted to sign a number of players during the window with interest in Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel, in particular, reaching an advanced stage.

There were also rumours that they made early enquiries for Juventus midfielder Douglas Luiz as Amorim hoped to improve his midfield options.

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Despite their attempts they couldn’t negotiate another deal in the end and Amorim, whose side beat Leicester City 2-1 in the FA Cup on Friday night, now has to try and get the best out of his current squad.

Another player they were in for was Barcelona midfielder Fermin with Spanish publication Sport claiming that Man Utd and Aston Villa ‘were willing to offer’ €70m (£58m) for the Spain international.

The report claims:

‘Fermin Lopez ‘s great performance this season has not gone unnoticed in the Premier League. Several clubs have shown interest in the player from Huelva and have contacted Barcelona, ​​taking into account that his 500 million euro release clause after his last renewal is unaffordable.

‘They were willing to offer around 70 million euros for the midfielder, who would double his salary at Barcelona. Fermin did not want to listen to either of the two offers that came in, from Manchester United and Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.

‘Fermin Lopez made it clear from the start that he did not want to listen to any offers. His desire is to succeed at Barcelona and he made that clear to the club and his representatives. But the English seem to be back on the attack.’

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Despite beating Premier League side Leicester in the FA Cup on Friday, Amorim insisted it was “not a good day” for the club as Man Utd struggled in the first half.

When asked if an FA Cup run could save their season, Amorim replied: “I cannot focus just on saving the season with the momentum of the [FA] Cup. That’s not the way I see football, it’s not the way I see Manchester United.

“It’s everything, it’s the performance, it’s the result. I’m not thinking about the end of the season now, because the final is at the end of the season. I don’t care about that, I care about the moment.

“The moment is clearly not good enough. It’s a good result. We move forward to the next stage. We have a week to prepare [for our next league game] but today was not a good day.”