Man Utd lost Nunez to Liverpool after ‘food poisoning’ hit Benfica president

Manchester United tried to get a head start in their pursuit for Darwin Nunez but a meeting with Benfica president was postponed due to food poisoning as they fell behind in race

Manchester United were leading the race for Darwin Nunez back in April, but were later left behind by rivals Liverpool, eventually missing out on the Uruguayan star.

Nunez had caught the eye of many during Benfica’s Champions League campaign as he scored six goals in 10 appearances. United representatives managed to arrange a meeting with the Eagles’ president Rui Costa after their Champions League quarter-final meeting with the Reds to discuss a potential deal, in an attempt to beat rival suitors to his signature.

But the meeting never happened after Costa who celebrated his birthday around that time suffered from food poisoning, which led the meeting to get postponed. The Old Trafford officials were not convinced by that however and took it as a snub – which resulted in the club falling behind in their pursuit of Nunez.

After Benfica’s European meeting at Anfield which ended 3-3, Jurgen Klopp approached Nelson Verissimo, Benfica’s caretaker manager to congratulate him on his side’s run and their performance. He even hailed Nunez’s individual attributes, stating that they were in “possession of a fine footballer.” Erik ten Hag who also saw Nunez score against his former team Ajax in the Champions League, had not yet been appointed as the new United boss by the time the Anfield officials started to begin talks with the Lisbon side.

And ultimately United missed out on securing a deal for the 22-year-old, despite considering him a £60m target, and not worthy of £85m asking price. Ten Hag was aware that spending £85m on a 22-year-old is “compromising the club’s strategies.” Nunez on the other hand, favoured a move to Anfield over Old Trafford as he felt the Reds’ style of play suited his abilities more.

“I’ve played against Liverpool and I’ve seen them in lots of games in the Champions League, and it’s my style of play,” he said.

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“There are some great players here and I think it’s going to suit my style of play here. As I say, I’ve watched quite a lot and it’s a very big club and I hope I can give everything that I’ve got in order to help the team.”

Since then, however, Ten Hag has prioritised other areas for improvement, particularly midfield – a department that has seen some real struggle in recent years. With the confirmed departures of Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic it is certainly an area that ten Hag has given priority to this summer.

The Red Devils are prioritising the signing of Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong and are understood to not give up in their pursuit after seeing an opening bid of £51m (€60m) rejected by the Spanish giants who value their player at a higher fee. Meanwhile, Anthony Martial could get the chance to revive his career at Old Trafford following his season-long spell at Sevilla last season.