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Publication date: Thursday, September 3, 2020 1:00 AM
Manchester United’s new signing Donny van de Beek was heading to Real Madrid before the Covid-19 pandemic, his agent says.
Arsenal, Barcelona and Juventus were also chasing the 23 year old, but Madrid led the pack until the world was affected by the coronavirus.
Already in January, a reliable Dutch newspaper The Telegraph claimed that van de Beek would join Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid in the summer.
The outlet’s main sports writer, Valentijn Driessen, said Veronica inside (via Goal.com) of the impending transfer, saying, “You can write that [the Van de Beek to Real Madrid transfer being done]. Everything is set. It’s done.”
The midfielder was ready to go after reportedly agreeing on personal terms on a £ 45 million (€ 50 million) move.
However, the Covid-19 outbreak changed the landscape of the transfer market and the financial ramifications paralyzed the LaLiga giants.
Instead, United moved to pole position and Van de Beek joined the club this week for a fee of around € 39 million, plus another € 5 million in add-ons, meaning they also got a significant discount. about the price that Real had negotiated.
“There were a lot of clubs interested in Van de Beek,” said his agent, Sjaak Swart, for Brand.
“There was Madrid, Barça, Juve, Arsenal… in March everything was ready for him to go to Real Madrid, but with the pandemic everything was postponed. The clubs have no income. The whole scene changed. “
Van de Beek honors Nouri
Van De Beek has revealed that he will be wearing jersey number 34 in honor of former Ajax teammate Abdelhak Nouri.
Nouri, 23, suffered brain damage after a heart attack on the field while playing for Ajax in a preseason game in Austria in 2017.
Dutch international Van De Beek explained why he had chosen jersey number 34 in an interview on United’s official website.
“This is something special for me because my good friend Abdelhak Nouri… maybe you know the story, he had a heart attack and he’s a good friend of mine.
“I am very close to his family and his brother is one of my best friends and I talk to them a lot.
“So I decided to wear his old number on my jersey and I want to have good memories with this number.”
READ MORE: Van de Beek seeks to defuse Fernandes and Pogba’s tension after joining Man Utd
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