Man Utd ‘said no’ to January exit of Ten Hag signing after two Euro giants ‘asked’ for signing
According to reports, Manchester United refused to let Morocco international Sofyan Amrabat leave the club during the recent January transfer window.
Amrabat was one of United’s top targets during last year’s summer transfer window after he shone for Morocco at the 2022 World Cup.
Man Utd had to offload unwanted talents to raise funds for the Amrabat deal, which was still not completed until deadline day and had to be structured as a loan-to-buy.
The defensive midfielder has endured a stop-start season at Old Trafford as he has been restricted to just seven Premier League starts.
The Red Devils have the option to sign Amrabat permanently in the summer but it was suggested during the January transfer window that he has ‘zero’ chance of staying beyond the end of this season.
Journalist Dean Jones said: ‘United have big decisions to make on their midfield reshape. We told today how they are not planning to keep Sofyan Amrabat beyond this season and in line with that, Martin Zubimendi is a player that is being monitored as a target for the summer window.’
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has now provided an update on Amrabat’s situation. He has revealed that Barcelona and Juventus ‘asked’ about the midfielder in January but Man Utd refused to ‘break’ his loan.
“I’ve seen many reports about Sofyan Amrabat’s future as he’s on loan at Manchester United from Fiorentina, with a buy option for the summer of €20m,” Romano said via his Caught Offside substack.
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“At the moment there has not been any communication from United to the player side about their decision. This will be decided later, it remains open. They already paid a big loan fee for Amrabat, so let’s see how they will decide to proceed.
“What I can say is that in January there were two clubs asking about the possibility to break the loan from Fiorentina to United, and to sign Amrabat on a new loan from January until the end of the season. My information is that the clubs were Juventus and Barcelona, but United said no.
“Barca, you may remember, already wanted Amrabat a year ago, but it was a no from United. There was no intention from United to break that loan in the middle of the season, but let’s see what the club will decide by the end of the campaign.”
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Regarding Dan Ashworth, Romano is of the understanding that Newcastle “want to take their time” to ensure they find a suitable replacement for the Man Utd target.
“It will be an interesting time at Newcastle United as they want to hold important internal discussions about how to replace Dan Ashworth,” Romano added.
“From what I heard, this is not something 100% clear yet and Newcastle want to take their time as they can’t make the wrong move…it’s crucial to continue with their project in the best way.”
