Manchester United were extremely close to securing Barcelona superstar.

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s Manchester United reportedly had final papers ready for Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele on this year’s transfer deadline day according to Express. The former Borussia Dortmund player had an extremely tough time adjusting to the La Liga giants and with uncountable injuries, he could have rejuvenated his career with a move to United but the transfer did not take place.

Both Manchester United and Barcelona had reportedly agreed on terms and decided to go ahead with the transfer. The papers were all signed but it was the former Borussia Dortmund winger himself who declined the opportunity to move to Old Trafford according to reports.

The Red Devils were after Jadon Sancho throughout the transfer window and they turned to Dembele as the aforementioned link-up did not work out well. However, this last-minute change in the decision did not go well either, as the winger decided to stay back at the Nou Camp and continue to recover and work under new manager Ronald Koeman.

Blaugrana are having massive financial problems and are looking to offload players to recoup some funds. They looked at the option of offloading Dembele in order to bring in Lyon’s Memphis Depay. Lyon even reduced the forward’s price to 25 million euros but the Catalans still failed to land him. Depay, however, will be pushing for a move to La Liga to join Barcelona at the Nou Camp in January.