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Report: Man United lose out in their pursuit of 24-year-old Ajax bound star

Manchester United were ready to pay a higher fee for Tottenham Hotspur star Steven Bergwijn.
Manchester United were ready to pay a higher fee for Tottenham Hotspur star Steven Bergwijn. (Photo by JEROEN PUTMANS/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Manchester United were ready to pay a higher fee for Tottenham Hotspur star Steven Bergwijn

According to the Dutch news outlet De Telegraaf (h/t Manchester Evening News), Manchester United were ready to pay a higher fee for Tottenham Hotspur star Steven Bergwijn, but a move could not materialise in the end. He is now in line to join Ajax on a transfer ahead of the next campaign.

The Dutch club has reached an agreement with Tottenham to finalise a move for Bergwijn this summer. The former will part ways with £28.5million in return for the winger, and their attempt was helped by the fact that he has his “heart set on” returning to the Netherlands.

However, Man United were prepared to place an offer of £35million for the Dutch forward. They were not alone, though, as Everton were also in the same boat. However, Bergwijn’s keen intent to move to Ajax seems to have played a part as Spurs have accepted the lower bid for his services.

Manchester United were ready to pay a higher fee for Tottenham Hotspur star Steven Bergwijn.
Steven Bergwijn is set to join Ajax. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)

Doesn’t make sense

It is quite baffling to see that we were ready to pay such an amount for the 24-year-old when we do not need reinforcements in that position. While Bergwijn can play on both wings and even as a striker, his best performances were when he was utilised as a left-winger.

That is a position where we are brimmed with quite a lot of options at this point. Players like Marcus Rashford, Anthony Elanga, Alejandro Garnacho, and Anthony Martial are primarily left-wingers in trade. The latter could head out as the Mancunians are open to selling him this summer.

Even then, we have multiple options, with Jadon Sancho also being a choice for Erik ten Hag to choose from after being converted to a left-winger by Ralf Rangnick. In such a case, it would have been puzzling to see us sign Bergwijn when we have other areas like centre-back that need reinforcements.

Manchester United were ready to pay a higher fee for Tottenham Hotspur star Steven Bergwijn. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Everton were also ready to make a bigger bid for Steven Bergwijn. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

As such, one could argue that there is no weight to this piece of news after applying appropriate context. In any case, it will be interesting to see how the Eredivisie side reacts to our interest in Lisandro Martinez and Antony from here on out.

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After all, the Amsterdam-based side has now spent quite a significant sum on Bergwijn, so they could perhaps use some influx of cash this summer. Previously they were reluctant to sell more of their stars and even slapped increased prices, having already sold a couple of players.

But one could now say that Ajax may just be willing to make reasonable demands for our targets, having made Bergwijn their club-record signing. The loss of such an amount could perhaps shift things in our favour, but only time will tell whether that will be the case or not.

Written by Rijo Sam Daniel

A football enthusiast who is madly in love with the game

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