Erik ten Hag looking to complete transfer for £20m superstar Ajax striker who once snubbed Man Utd

Erik ten Hag looking to complete transfer for £20m superstar Ajax striker who once snubbed Man Utd

Manchester United are weighing up a move for Ajax frontman Brian Brobbery, who previously rejected a move to Old Trafford so that he could rejoin Ajax in the summer

Dutch international Brian Brobbey is a target for Manchester United – but the striker has revealed how he once rejected a fortune to go to Old Trafford so that he could rejoin Ajax.

Brobbey, 21, is enjoying his time back in Amsterdam after a nightmare spell in Germany with RB Leipzig.

But he has described how Reds’ boss Erik ten Hag wanted to take him to United when the Bundesliga club made it clear they would listen to offers for the player in the summer of 2022.

The Bundesliga club had initially allowed the forward to rejoin Ajax in a loan deal the previous January. United were ready to meet Leipzig’s £16million asking price for the player after deciding he was no longer required – but Brobbey decided to chase happiness rather than the money.

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It has been suggested that the powerful forward is still on Ten Hag’s radar as he looks to add goals to his misfiring team – and this time Ten Hag could get his man.

Brobbey said: “Erik ten Hag called me and said that at United, my agent would get millions of euros and I could earn a multiple of my Ajax salary. But our decision was clear: we wanted to go to Ajax.

“Manchester United wanted to have me, but I insisted on returning to Ajax. To make that possible, my agent Jose Fortes Rodriguez even waived a hefty percentage of the sell-on clause.”

Brobbey is expected to lead Holland’s strike force at the Euros – despite returning to an Ajax team that has struggled all season.

Ten Hag gave him his debut at Ajax when he was in charge of the Eredivisie club. But when Brobbey’s contract expired in the summer of 2021, he moved to Leipzig.

It was a big mistake. He said: “Ajax promised me that no new striker would be brought in and suddenly there was Sebastien Haller, the most expensive purchase ever. I didn’t even mind that so much. But being told that I would basically not get to play made me angry.

“Then Julian Nagelsmann had such a good story that I honestly thought I would get minutes at Leipzig. Even before the season started, Nagelsmann and the technical director who had brought me in, Markus Krosche, had left the club.”

Brobbey could, however, be tempted by the chance to move to United to link up again with Ten Hag