Player hailed as his nation’s ‘very best’ by compatriot rebuffed PL interest in hopes of sealing United move in summer

Manchester United have long been linked with a move for highly-regarded full-back Denzel Dumfries, though a deal has never come to fruition. 

More recently, it was less so that the Red Devils were pursuing Dumfries and more so that he was actively pushing for a move to Old Trafford.

The Athletic claimed back in August that the defender had shelved contract talks with Inter Milan in hopes of sealing his desired switch to United. However, while he is admired by club officials, INEOS instead turned their attention to another one of Erik ten Hag’s former protegees: Noussair Mazraoui.

Indeed, United strengthened their ex-Ajax contingent with the addition of Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt, the former of which was sought to replace then-West Ham-bound Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Read more: United summer signing prompts fitness concerns ahead of Southampton clash, admits he feels ‘a bit down’

Dumfries rebuffed Premier League interest after United dream failed to materialise

That paved the way for Aston Villa to try their luck for Dumfries, whom Rafael Van der Vaart deemed the Netherlands’ ‘very best player’ and the ‘ideal full-back’. 

Villa were adamant about bolstering Unai Emery’s squad as sufficiently as they could after booking their spot in this season’s Champions League campaign – but Dumfries was uninterested in swapping Milan for the West Midlands.

Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport claims Villa had made an approach to try and hash out a deal for the experienced 28-year-old before ultimately seeing their attempts rebuffed, as his ‘preference’ was United.