‘It made the difference’ – Player explains why he rejected Man Utd for Juve

Lewis Oldham
Man Utd linked Zakaria

Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria has explained why he decided against signing for Man Utd during the winter transfer window.

Prior to his move to Juventus, the 25-year-old was linked with a move to Man Utd.

The midfielder had been impressing for Borussia Monchengladbach. He joined them in 2017 from Young Boys.


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Zakaria’s contract at Gladbach was due to expire at the end of the 2021/22 season. Juventus paid around €4.5m to sign the midfielder before the winter window closed.

He scored on his debut as Juventus beat Hellas Verona in Serie A over the weekend.

The Switzerland international has told La Tribune de Geneve that Juventus “showed the most desire” to sign him:

“Juventus are the club that showed the most desire to sign me. There is something to do with the feeling too.

“You can feel the way people talk to you, the interest people have in you. Other clubs that approached me were more reserved.

“With Juve, there was an immediate real interest in me, with concrete things from the outset. It’s pleasant, rewarding, and that made the difference.”

Ralf Rangnick has claimed that there are “two points of criticism” that Man Utd have to face despite “improved” performances:

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Overall, the development of the team and performances over the last couple of weeks have improved. There are two points of criticism that we all have to face.

“One: we wasted too many clear-cut chances, 22 shots inside the box, 10 were massive opportunities and we should easily have been 3-0 up at HT. It should have been 6-1 or 6-2.

“And the other one was 10 secs before we conceded the goal, it was a perfect counter-pressing situation inside their half, we took away time but not the ball away from them and eight seconds later we were outnumbered in our box, it was a handball goal and I’m still convinced this goal should have been disallowed, but we shouldn’t have allowed this situation.

“Those are the two things I fault with the team. We invested a week into the game plan and many of those things have been confirmed by the team and were shown on the pitch against Middlesbrough.”