Manchester United allowed Marcus Rashford to leave in January and were interested in an Aston Villa player to replace him.
The January transfer window closed with Manchester United striking one major deal.
Patrick Dorgu joined United from Lecce with the Danish wing back completing a move worth around £25million rising to £30million.
United snapped up Arsenal’s Ayden Heaven too but he and Diego Leon – who will arrive from Cerro Porteno this summer – are players for the developmental ranks for now.
United also sanctioned outgoings with Antony now shining at Real Betis after joining the La Liga club on loan.
Antony wasn’t the only attacker to leave though with Marcus Rashford completing a move to Aston Villa until the end of the season.
- READ: Confirmed Manchester United transfer deals for January 2025, ins, outs, loan moves, deadline date
Aston Villa ace on his future after Manchester United interest
Rashford is still settling in with Villa but has shown a promising connection with Villa’s fellow January signing Marco Asensio.
As United allowed Rashford to go, there was interest in signing another attacker to replace him.
One Villa winger was even on the radar as United explored a deal to sign Leon Bailey on loan for transfer deadline day.
The Jamaican is now in a real battle for starting minutes at Villa with Rashford, Asensio and Donyell Malen joining in January.
A loan to United could have given Bailey some more playing time but it just wasn’t meant to be as the window closed with no deal done.
Bailey – signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £25million in 2021 as noted by BBC Sport – has now told the Birmingham Mail that he is happy to fight for his place at Villa Park.
Bailey claims that he just wants to work with Villa’s new signings and prove that he can click with Unai Emery’s recruits.
The wide man doesn’t feel worried about the new signings either and vowed to battle on despite that United interest.
“There’s always competition but that’s not the most important thing,” said Bailey. “I think the most important thing is being able to play well together. It doesn’t matter who it is up front and I think that’s the main thing that we need to consider, not the competition that’s here.
“We know we all have talent and we are all good players and we can contribute. But, at the same time, can you contribute while playing together? I think that’s something we’ve been more focused on and so far it’s been working and it’s good to see. When you play more with the players consistently, people get to know each other better and faster. I think it’s going well so far and hopefully it can click in every moment that we need it to click.
“No, I don’t think that’s ever the focus. I think that’s more so for the media. That’s for you guys to think. But honestly, we as the players, we don’t think like that We’re all on the same team, we all have the same objective and the same goal. For us, as I said before, it’s more about gelling together, playing well together,” he added when asked if he finds the competition daunting.
Don’t expect to see United targeting Leon Bailey this summer
Bailey may be playing the long game here with Rashford and Asensio only on loan until the summer.
If permanent deals aren’t struck, Bailey could find himself playing a key role despite being in and out of the team recently.
One thing we can predict is that we don’t think United will be back in for Bailey this summer.
The 27-year-old may have made sense as a stop-gap until the summer but we just can’t see Ruben Amorim chasing him come the end of the season.
Bailey is at his best as a winger and whilst he has played off the striker at times with Villa, United will be looking for players who can play as number 10’s in Amorim’s 3-4-2-1.
Just as the 10 role hasn’t been ideal for Alejandro Garnacho, we don’t think Bailey is a particularly great fit for the long-term at United and believe that Amorim and co will move on to other targets this summer.
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