Manchester United reportedly ‘tried to hijack’ Liverpool’s deal for Jeremy Jacquet, as per transfer journalist Florian Plettenberg.
The 20-year-old started his youth career at AS Outre Mer du Bois l’Abbé before joining RC Joinville. The youngster moved to Rennes back in 2019 before making his first-team debut a couple of years ago.
However, he initially struggled to break into the starting XI at Roazhon Park. So, he joined Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot to play regularly and develop his career.
After impressing in the French second division, the Frenchman returned to Rennes last winter and has now established himself as a key starter. He has been displaying promising performances in Ligue 1 over the last 12 months, keeping five clean sheets thus far this season.
Having been attracted by his recent eye-catching performances, a lot of Premier League clubs expressed their interest in him. Chelsea initially attempted to sign him in the winter window.
Eventually, Liverpool have reportedly managed to win the race for a fee of around £60m including bonuses, with the player set to move to Anfield at the end of this campaign.
Now, on X, Plettenberg claims that Man Utd were also interested in Jacquet and made a last-gasp attempt to hijack Liverpool’s deal, but they eventually failed to do that as the player already had an agreement with the Reds.
Jacquet to Man Utd
Plettenberg said:
“Manchester United tried to hijack Jeremy Jacquet’s summer transfer to Liverpool in the last hours, but were unsuccessful. Jacquet already had an agreement in place with Liverpool.”
Harry Maguire has entered the final four months of his current contract and is looking likely to leave at the end of this season. With Matthijs de Ligt struggling with fitness problems this season, Man Utd could do with signing a new centre-back.
Jacquet, standing at 6ft 3in tall, is quick, strong, good in the air, comfortable playing out from the back, and is efficient in defensive contributions.
He is a highly talented player and possesses the potential to become a world-class defender. So, he would have been a great coup for United had they managed to secure his service ahead of Liverpool.
Now, it is going to be interesting to see whether the Old Trafford club eventually make a concrete approach to sign a new defender if Maguire leaves next summer.
