Manchester United ended up not signing any players during the January transfer window, but manager Erik ten Hag admitted that he would have loved to land a striker to bolster his attacking ranks.
The Red Devils were linked with several centre-forwards and actually held talks with the agents of some of them, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.
The Italian journalist also revealed that VfB Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy was very close to joining Man United last month, but the move fell through as the Old Trafford club could not activate his release clause because of their Financial Fair Play (FFP) issues.
“The player who was really close to joining Manchester United is Serhou Guirassy from Stuttgart,” Romano said on the latest edition of The Here We Go podcast.
“From what I understand, the conversations with Serhou Guirassy were really positive. Manchester United were planning to discuss about the release clause with Stuttgart, €17.5 million. So the player was absolutely of interest for Manchester United.
“They saw Guirassy as a nice opportunity on the market available for €17.5m. He is a player also with some experience.
“To have Rasmus Hojlund with a great potential, of course, but also having one more like Guirassy was considered like the perfect option.
“But from what I’m hearing, the situation was impossible because of finances. To put €17.5m immediately in one solution on the table was certainly not possible.
“So that’s why the move collapsed. Remember this clause is valid again in the summer, so let’s see what European club will decide to go for Guirassy.”
Man United resumed Premier League action last night with a 4-3 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Marcus Rashford and Hojlund both scored, but it cannot be denied that they could do with another quality finisher right now.
Guirassy has netted 17 Bundesliga goals in 14 games this term after ending last season with 11 goals in 22 league matches and he would have been perfect for the Red Devils.
Gary Neville claimed last night that he knows Man United are right on the limit when it comes to breaching FFP regulations.
With their spending severely restricted by profit and sustainability (PSR) rules, they decided that the risk of a long-term punishment which might have come from making any January addition was not worth a short-term fix.
“I think the main thing might be that FFP seems to be sort of hitting you know,” Neville said.
“I know Manchester United, a club that you would argue sort of spent hundreds of millions and have spent hundreds of millions. I know they’re on the edge of FFP.
It’s not just the likes of Everton maybe and Nottingham Forest doing it near the bottom of the league at this moment in time they’re trying to play catch up, it’s the clubs right at the very top and we’re having to just move forward with a little bit more sort of caution.”