Manchester United signing was “99% done” before last-minute collapse, Fabrizio Romano reveals

Manchester United had a deal that was ‘99% done’ until a last-minute collapse scuppered the move, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Manchester United have been looking to bolster their defence by signing multiple centre-backs this summer after a challenging season under Erik ten Hag, which saw them finish eighth in the Premier League and exit the Champions League before Christmas.

The team conceded over eighty goals across all competitions, frequently altering their defensive lineup due to a mammoth number of injuries, resulting in more than 30 different combinations across 52 matches in the 2023/24 season.

Read More: Sources – Two reasons why Al-Ittihad do NOT want Manchester United’s Casemiro this summer

INEOS are evaluating potential signings for the 2024 summer transfer window, with Jarrad Branthwaite, Leny Yoro, and Matthijs de Ligt emerging as key targets, and a deal for the latter seemingly close.

Reports have also suggested that the club have had a bid of around £50 million accepted by Lille for Yoro, but the 18-year-old is yet to agree to the transfer as he is waiting to see if Real Madrid will make their move for him in the next six weeks.

However, before all of this came into the fold, it has now been revealed by transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano that United had all but completed a deal for Jean-Clair Todibo before a last-minute decision from UEFA to block the transfer due to INEOS’ part ownership in both United and Todibo’s club, Nice, completely killed the deal.

“Jean-Clair Todibo was 99% a new Manchester United player,” Romano told GiveMeSport. “Everything was done, also on the player’s side, then everything collapsed because of UEFA rules.

“UEFA denied the possibility for any player to join a club with the same ownership playing in the same European competition; so before the final at Wembley, Manchester United prepared everything to have Jean-Clair Todibo as a new player.

“Now, there is nothing ongoing. We had some reports that Manchester United would go legal for this one, but they are not true.

“Manchester United have already left the conversation for Todibo, there is no chance. But he was really almost there, almost done, to join Manchester United.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe himself was furious about the decision, explaining that he did not understand the point of UEFA’s ruling.

“We’ve got a player in Nice who was really interested in joining Manchester United, and I think he probably has the capability of being in the Manchester United squad,” Ratcliffe said last month.

“They’ve said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell him to Manchester United, which is unfair, really. I don’t see what that achieves.”

Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is released every Thursday at 6 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.