Varun Pai
Manchester United were initially ready to offload Victor Lindelof this summer
According to 90min.com (h/t The Express), Manchester United had reportedly put Victor Lindelof on sale earlier this summer amidst the arrival of Raphael Varane.
The Red Devils, who completed the signing of Raphael Varane earlier last week, unveiled the player in front of the Old Trafford fans before their season opener against Leeds United.
However, United were eager on offloading Victor Lindelof around the time they were trying to complete a deal for the Frenchman.
Varane, who is expected to partner Harry Maguire in the defence, could have left Lindelof suffering for game-time, courtesy of which United could have benefitted from the sale of the player.
Although that was the initial plan, United put it off after they allowed several defenders to leave. The Manchester-based outfit let Axel Tuanzebe leave on loan to Aston Villa while they are also ready to loan out Teden Mengi, with Wayne Rooney keen on bringing the player to Derby County.
Tuanzebe and Mengi were the club’s main centre-back partnership for most of pre-season, while the former also featured for United quite a bit last season.
However, with loan moves sanctioned for both players, Lindelof can act as the backup alongside Eric Bailly to both Maguire and Varane this summer, and given that United will be participating in four competitions this season, the Swede could certainly rack up considerable minutes.
The 27-year-old joined Old Trafford in 2017 under the stewardship of Jose Mourinho and has since featured for the club 162 times while he was also an integral part of the United team that reached the Europa League final in 2021 as well as in the season before that.
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However, the Swede is yet to win some silverware with United, and he would be hoping to achieve that goal this year.
