Manchester United tried to wreck Liverpool’s £60m transfer at the last minute after a French star agreed terms with their rivals
Manchester United reportedly launched a last-minute move to hijack Jeremy Jacquet’s transfer to Liverpool. It emerged late on Sunday night that the reigning Premier League champions had agreed a deal with Rennes to sign the centre-back this summer.
Liverpool have negotiated a pre-agreement worth an initial £55million plus £5m in add-ons for the 20-year-old, having held talks with the French side over the weekend. However, journalist Florian Plettenberg is reporting that United tried to hijack the transfer on Sunday evening but were unsuccessful, as the defender already had an agreement in place with Liverpool.
Chelsea had approached Stade Rennais earlier in January about a deal for Jacquet, but the French club were reluctant to sanction a departure midway through the campaign. That meant that Jacquet had a choice between Chelsea and Liverpool on who he wanted to join in the summer and opted for the latter because he believes there is a better chance of regular first-team football at Anfield.
Try MEN Premium NOW for just £1
As reported by the MEN on Monday morning, United are set for a quiet end to the January transfer window, with their deadline day activity set to focus on securing exits for some of their academy graduates.
Speaking on Friday, Michael Carrick said: “To be honest, I think we’re just working through it. Never say never, of course, because a lot can happen and situations can be thrown up.
READ MORE: Man United transfer news LIVE – Jeremy Jacquet hijack, Bruno Fernandes stance, Angel Gomes dealREAD MORE: Man United transfer news: Deadline day loan offer ‘prepared’ as Cole Palmer fee ‘revealed’
“Sometimes it’s in our control, sometimes it’s maybe something that’s out of our control that we’ve got to deal with.
“I’m pretty calm. I think we’ve shown what we’re capable of doing as a team and we’ll just have to see what the next few days bring, but I’m definitely calm about it.”
On the pitch, Benjamin Sesko’s stoppage-time winner saw United’s revival under Carrick continue in dramatic fashion as they moved back into the Premier League’s top four with a 3-2 win over Fulham on Sunday. Goals from Casemiro and Matheus Cunha had put the Reds 2-0 up before Raul Jimenez and Kevin restored parity.
But just moments later, United were celebrating again as substitute Sesko rifled the ball beyond Bernd Leno. And Carrick said: “There’s a lot that went on today in the game. I was well aware of what a good team Fulham are going into the game. I was getting questions thrown at me about teams sitting back here, but I knew it was never going to be like that today.
“They are a good team, I knew we were going to have to answer a lot of questions and we did that for a lot of it. The boys put in a big effort and they were really desperate to win the game.
FOLLOW OUR MAN UNITED FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest news and analysis via the MEN’s Manchester United Facebook page
“For Ben [Sesko] to come on and have a moment like that is huge. It was nice for him to get his moment in front of the Stretford End. There’s not a better place to score a winner like that.
“It’s a big moment for everyone. You could tell that in the way everyone celebrated – from the staff to the supporters. It was one of those special ones.”
