Paris Saint-Germain winger Lucas Moura’s agent has claimed that his client was inches away from joining Manchester United before he moved to the French capital in 2013.

A product of Sao Paulo’s youth academy, the Brazilian’s future was a source of constant speculation a couple of summers ago before he joined the French champions.




A highly-rated winger, a number of top European clubs were after his signature and speculation was ripe that former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to take him to Old Trafford.

Those rumours have received credence after his agent, Wagner Ribeiro, revealed that his client was a whisker away from joining the Red Devils in 2013.
 


He added that Sao Paulo officials were at Old Trafford to tie up a deal for the Brazilian before he asked them to negotiate with PSG after having a chat with their former sporting director Leonardo.

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“Manchester United were prepared to pay £23m”, Ribeiro told Yahoo Brazil.

“Gustavo Vieira [Sao Paulo sporting director] was in Manchester to finalise the deal, but then I called Leonardo, who was interested [in Moura].

“I told Gustavo to stall negotiations in Manchester and find me in Paris.

“We closed the deal at £34m.”

Moura has made 105 appearances for PSG and has also earned 31 caps for Brazil. His agent was seen sitting alongside Ferguson at an Olympic match at Old Trafford in 2012, when the deal was close.

Moura agreed to join PSG in 2012, but only headed to France in January 2013.

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