Manchester United opted to call off Facundo Pellistri’s loan move to Watford on Deadline Day, as per a report from Football Insider.
The 21-year-old, who had agreed a deal to sign with the Championship outfit, was also a target at several clubs within Europe but it was the Hornets who came closest.
The report claims that it was United boss Erik ten Hag who pulled the plug on the move as there could be more first-team opportunities for the exciting Uruguayan during what remains of this season.
Pellistri is yet to make an appearance in the Premier League this season having been named on the bench for nine fixtures in the league thus far.
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The 21-year-old arrived at Old Trafford in 2020 for a fee around the £9 million mark, thriving with Uruguayan club Penarol at the time.
The verdict
Pellistri is a very exciting prospect who certainly has an incredibly high ceiling and whilst a loan move could have helped him achieve regular minutes in an extremely competitive setting, the club’s decision to keep him close to the first team shows that he is highly valued by his manager.
It will be frustrating if he remains on the fringes of things at Old Trafford, especially when a deal was lined up.
A player who can carve out chances with excellent vision and technical ability, he could have been a real hit in the Championship and under Slaven Bilic.
Now, he will be working hard to try and force his way into ten Hag’s thinking as the rest of this campaign plays out.
Transfer target Man Utd missed out on is now dubbed ‘best signing of all time’
Mohammed Kudus has been linked with a move to Manchester United for months, and it’s no surprise given how highly thought of he is at Ajax, having been dubbed Marc Overmars’ “best signing”
Former Ajax director of football Marc Overmars dubbed Mohammed Kudus his “best signing of all time” (Image: Getty Images)
A player Manchester United were linked with last month has been hailed as the “best signing of all time” by former Ajax chief Marc Overmars.
22-year-old Mohammed Kudus, who was also linked with a move to Old Trafford when Erik ten Hag joined the club in the summer, has been in flying form for Ajax this season, netting 12 goals in 25 matches so far.
The Ghanaian winger has slotted into the hole left by Antony following his £85m move to United in the summer, and has transformed into his side’s most dependably devastating attacker.
Former Ajax, Real Madrid and Tottenham star Rafael van der Vaart, who is a regular pundit on Dutch TV these days, spoke recently about the first time he saw Kudus play, and revealed what Overmars (Ajax’s director of football between 2012 and 2022) told him that day.
“When I saw Kudus for the first time during a friendly, I spoke with Marc Overmars and he said to me: ‘Rafael, this is my best signing of all time. This one will deliver us €100m’.”
Kudus was linked with Liverpool back in 2020 during his spell at Danish side Nordsjælland, but ended up joining Ajax for a measly £7m instead.
Kudus shined at the 2022 World Cup, scoring two goals for Ghana during their dramatic 3-2 victory over South Korea in the group stage – their only win at the tournament.
Should Kudus end up moving to Old Trafford he would become the fourth man to swap Ajax for United in the last year, following in the footsteps of Ten Hag, Antony and Lisandro Martinez.
The Red Devils have had a lot of success with former Ajax stars in the past, with the likes of Edwin van der Sar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Daley Blind all starring for the club having shone in the red and white of the Amsterdam side.
Source: footballleagueworld.co.uk; dailystar.co.uk
