Reds offered £35m for Moura

UNITED offered Sao Paulo £35m for Lucas Moura when he was 19.

The right winger was coveted by the Reds in the 2012 summer transfer window, despite Antonio Valencia receiving the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award the previous campaign.

Valencia was rewarded for a stellar 2011-12 with the No.7 shirt but the departure of Ji-Sung Park and Bebe convinced then boss Sir Alex Ferguson he needed another winger.

Ferguson and then-United chief executive David Gill initially offered Moura’s club Sao Paulo £24m before eventually upping their offer to £35m. However, Paris Saint Germain gazumped United.

“Right towards the end of my time at United we were pursuing Lucas Moura, the immensely talented right-winger who, at the time, was playing in his native Brazil for Sao Paulo,” Ferguson wrote in his book Leading.

“We offered £24m for him, which was upped to £30m and again to £35m, but Paris Saint Germain signed him for £45m.”

Last week, Jose Mourinho namechecked Moura among the PSG forwards who had become marginalised by the summer additions of £198m Neymar and loanee Kylian Mbappe.

“What Paris Saint Germain did this season with Neymar and Mbappe, they get two of probably the four best attacking players in the world - they get two at the same time.

“And then players like [Angel] Di Maria, [Julian] Draxler, [Javier] Pastore, Lucas, they are second choices. Money makes a difference.”