“I like him a lot…” – Xavi told Barcelona to sign £43m Man United star before rejected bid

Xavi Hernandez once told Barcelona to sign Manchester United’s £43 million star before they had a bid rejected for the player.

A recent MailSport report suggests Xavi is emerging as a potential target for Manchester United if the club decides to part ways with Erik ten Hag.

According to the report, intermediaries have approached the former Barcelona manager twice in recent months, with Omar Berrada among those to meet with the Spaniard.

During the summer, INEOS reportedly considered several managerial options, including England’s new head coach Thomas Tuchel, before deciding Ten Hag was the right choice to move the club forward.

However, with pressure mounting on the Dutchman, several potential replacements are being linked, including Xavi, Rúben Amorim and Edin Terzic.

Xavi recommended United star to Barcelona

Should the former Barcelona manager be the man to replace Ten Hag, he would likely be very happy to be paired with one player he once urged his former club to sign.

In 2019, Xavi thrown praise on Matthijs de Ligt, who had helped guide Ajax to the semi-final in the Champions League, and suggested that he would be a ‘very good’ signing for Barcelona.

“I like [him] a lot,” Xavi told Marca about the Dutch defender, who was rated as one of the most exciting young defenders at the time.

“[De Ligt and De Jong] would be very good for Barcelona. They don’t lose the ball, they bring it out well. They already have the Barcelona DNA coming from Ajax, which has always been a good school for us.”

Xavi would go onto manage the La Liga club in 2021, one year after they attempted to pry De Ligt away from Juventus with a £66 million bid being rejected, as per the Daily Mail.

De Ligt’s solid start to life at United

The 44-year-old’s opinion of De Ligt was extremely high and while the defender hasn’t quite yet hit the heights expected of him, he has had a solid start to life at Old Trafford since joining for £43 million from Bayern Munich in the summer.

While the team haven’t really performed that well, De Ligt has managed to put together some impressive displays next to several different centre-back partners.

He is adapting to the league well and clearly is a favourite for current manager Ten Hag, and that would likely remain if Xavi was to replace the Dutchman.

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