Chelsea
Man Utd & Chelsea Made Audacious Attempt To Sign La Liga Star
Manchester United and Chelsea made audacious attempts to try and lure a La Liga midfielder to England but the player decided to remain in Spain.
The summer transfer window is now closed for another year but it’s not time to look back on those deals that didn’t go through and those that are being lined-up for the future. Today, Ivan Rakitic turned down interest from England….
Manchester United and Chelsea made audacious attempts to try and lure Ivan Rakitic away from Barcelona this summer but the Croatian international decided to remain at the Nou Camp, according to the Sun.
Having previously played for Basel and Schalke earlier in his career, Rakitic made his name at Sevilla where he captained the side to a Europa League trophy before earning a big-money move to Barca in the summer of 2014.
The 28-year-old has established himself as an important part of the first team and has helped the Catalans win a whole host of trophies over the past two years, including successive La Liga titles and the Champions League.
It appears the Croatian international attracted plenty of interest during this summers transfer window as the Sun are citing reports coming from Mundo Deportivo that claim Manchester United and Chelsea were among the clubs who tried to sign him.
The newspaper quoted the Spanish outlet as saying:
“Ivan said he was not interested in offers from Juventus, Manchester United and Chelsea and Barcelona will offer him a new contract,” the newspaper reports.
Jose Mourinho showed his intent in the transfer market this summer after breaking the world transfer record to sign Paul Pogba while he also snapped up Zlatan Ibrahimovic so it comes as no surprise that United made an audacious attempt to land Rakitic too.
Chelsea took their time to get their business done with Antonio Conte bringing in two defenders on deadline day having previously signed N’Golo Kante and Michy Batshuayi but the Blues are one of the few clubs who could realistically afford Rakitic if he was open to a move.
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The Croatian midfielder would have been a superb signing for either Premier League team had they been able to prise him away from Barcelona but understandably he opted to stay in Spain and play alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar in arguably the best side in Europe.
