Manchester United turned down the opportunity to sign Gianluigi Donnarumma before his move to rivals Manchester City. The goalkeeper switched to the Etihad Stadium last year, joining from PSG in a deal worth around £26million.
It was a relative bargain, given Donnarumma's status as one of the world's best shot-stoppers. He could have ended up at United, who were on the hunt for a goalkeeper to replace Andre Onana at the same time.
United balked at £50m price tag
However, the Red Devils walked away from the table after being quoted an asking price of £50m. They were unwilling to pay that much for the Italy international and ended up signing Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp instead.
Not long after United ended their pursuit of Donnarumma, his asking price was slashed in half and City swooped in to sign him for themselves. He had been deemed surplus to requirements by PSG after entering the final 12 months of his contract in the French capital.
Donnarumma's debut season at City
Head coach Luis Enrique signed Lucas Chevalier to replace Donnarumma while he was still at the club, signalling that he was no longer in the first-team picture. Donnarumma enjoyed a strong debut campaign at City, keeping 15 clean sheets in 34 league appearances while conceding just 29 goals.
United, meanwhile, won't be too disappointed about missing out on Donnarumma, with Lammens having excelled since his £18m move to Old Trafford. He quickly established himself as the first-choice goalkeeper under Ruben Amorim and kept his place when Michael Carrick arrived to steady the ship in January.
Carrick praises Lammens
The current United boss made it clear that he was pleased with Lammens by highlighting similarities with legendary former Red Devils stopper Edwin van der Sar.
"I definitely see the similarities, without comparing them," said Carrick last season. "I don't want to be comparing them because I don't think it's fair to Senne. But there's definitely similarities.
"For me, he's a goalkeeper to be reliable, be trustworthy. Instead of creating chaos, you want him to take the chaos away and calm things down. I think Senne is that. He's quite quiet at times and unassuming, but he's got a real steel.
"How he's gone about it at the moment is with calmness, with composure. I think it does help those in front of him an awful lot."
