Manchester United's failed attempt to sign Ander Herrera has left the club baffled, with the role of three lawyers who turned up at the Spanish league offices on deadline day still unexplained. The lawyers, identified as Rodrigo García Lucas, Alvaro Reig Gurrea and Guillermo Gutiérrez from the Spanish firm Laffer, claimed to have United's authorisation to pay the €36m (£30.4m) buyout clause for the Athletic Bilbao midfielder. United have categorically denied knowing or commissioning them.
United's valuation of Herrera was around £20m, significantly lower than Bilbao's insistence on the full clause. With no agreement reached, the club believed the deal was dead until the lawyers' appearance sparked a frenzy of speculation. Herrera himself said: 'I do not feel used by United... The lawyers that were at the LFP did not represent me. I didn't even know who they were.' His agent also contacted United to verify the lawyers' credentials, receiving an emphatic denial.
The incident is not the only bizarre episode in United's transfer window. The club also revealed that a forged email purporting to come from Old Trafford was sent to another club, apparently to trigger a rival bid and inflate the price. That player subsequently moved for significant money, with the buying club falsely believing they had beaten United to him.
United have also dismissed suggestions they challenged Arsenal for Mesut Ozil. The club were offered the player three weeks ago but turned him down, having already decided Wayne Rooney would not leave and not wanting to break their transfer record for Ozil.
