Man Utd miss out as superstar transfer target signs elsewhere

A confirmed transfer target Manchester United hoped to sign this summer will not arrive at Old Trafford after a different deal was penned and announced.

The bulk of the headlines at Man Utd this summer, at least as far as signings go, will revolve around midfielders. At least two big names will arrive to coincide with Casemiro leaving and potentially Manuel Ugarte following the Brazilian out too.

However, United fans should not sleep on other positions, namely left wing and the left side of defence.

Earlier in April, Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg namechecked the Red Devils when discussing the future of Nico Schlotterbeck .

He wrote on X : “I can confirm that Man Utd are interested in Nico Schlotterbeck . If he doesn’t renew his contract, he’ll be available in the summer for €30m-35m (£26-31m).”

€30m-€35m would have represented a colossal bargain for a left-sided centre-back who has been named in three of the last four Bundesliga teams of the season.

The only reason why the 26-year-old might have been available for that lowly price point was because his contract was due to expire in the summer of 2027.

However, Dortmund made a gigantic push to agree fresh terms with Schlotterbeck during the recent international break.

And on Friday afternoon, the German giant announced Schlotterbeck has committed his future to the club and put pen to paper on a new and improved contract running until 2031.

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano , Schlotterbeck has now become one of the highest paid players in Dortmund’s squad.

Romano also noted the 25-cap Germany international had fielded significant transfer interest.

Taking to X , reporter Ben Jacobs noted some of that transfer interest came from the Premier League.

Man Utd’s hopes of signing Schlotterbeck are clearly over for the time being, though this might not be the end of the Schlotterbeck stories forever.

German outlet Kicker have reported a release clause – believed to be worth a sum in the €50m-€60m region – has been inserted into the new agreement.

It’s claimed only a ‘few clubs’ will be eligible to activate the clause. Generally speaking in situations like these, the clubs in question are the biggest teams in Europe and/or have Champions League football.

Man Utd obviously tick the first box and barring a late-season crumble, they’ll be in the UCL next year too.

Nevertheless, you would assume the clause cannot be activated this summer and would only become relevant at a later date, otherwise signing the new contract would’ve been virtually pointless.