Marcel Sabitzer to Manchester United was one of the big stories of transfer Deadline Day, and Fabrizio Romano has provided details of the deal in his exclusive CaughtOffside column the Daily Briefing.
According to Romano, Chelsea were never in for Sabitzer, despite some links yesterday before the Austria international eventually completed his loan move from Bayern Munich to Man Utd.
And while this deal was rather out of the blue and linked to Christian Eriksen’s injury, United manager Erik ten Hag has supposedly been a fan of Sabitzer for some time.
Romano generally praised this as a smart loan signing for the Red Devils, and fans are sure to be glad that the club reacted quickly to the blow of losing Eriksen to injury for much of the second half of the season.
“Manchester United were not planning for any move before the Christian Eriksen injury. It changed on Deadline Day after medical check for Eriksen,” Romano said.
“Erik ten Hag has always appreciated Marcel Sabitzer, thinks he’s an underrated player. I think on loan it’s a very smart signing.”
He added: “Despite reports, Chelsea never opened talks for Sabitzer.”
Sabitzer never quite got going for Bayern but was previously an exciting talent at his former club RB Leipzig, so it will be interesting to see if he can revive his career at Old Trafford.
It’s not quite clear where the Chelsea links came from, but the Blues had a busy January so it’s perhaps not too surprising that some sources felt they might join the race for yet another player!
Paul Merson, please leave Marcel Sabitzer alone.
You are always so negative. The players from the RB stable can hold their own and Bayern Munich was keen to have signed him because of his quality. It means he is good; it’s only that BM have good regulars.
LIKE Weghorst, Sabitzer will come in handy and play well when called upon.
Paul Merson is no longer relevant as a pundit,chops and changes his mind.Wjy his opinions are sought is beyond me.Time to hang up the microphone Paul and take Souness with you,famous for saying Casemiro is not a great player,just a steady eddie not worth the money,players he played with made him successful.Far better player than you ever were Graeme.These so called football experts get paid huge amounts of money for spouting nonsense