Burnley missed out on Sergio Reguilon before his move to Premier League giants Manchester United despite being ‘offered’ the chance to sign the Tottenham Hotspur loanee.
Positives were certainly in short supply for Erik ten Hag on Saturday – Brighton running back the clock and triumphing at Old Trafford for the second year running – but the performance of debutant Sergio Reguilon at least offered a brief respite from the disappointment and disillusion.
Brought in amid plenty of raised eyebrows and raised inflections, the Spaniard was one of United’s few stand-out performers during a punishing 3-1 home defeat; a bundle of energy and enthusiasm on the left-hand side.
And talk about a ‘sliding doors moment’. Reguilon, according to Burnley’s chief operating offer, could have ended up at Turf Moor instead, before Manchester United offered him the opportunity to step in for the injured Luke Shaw in the final week of the transfer window.
Sergio Reguilon impresses on Man United debut
“Left-backs are a bit of a rarity,” Matt Williams tells BBC Radio Lancashire. “Look at Manchester United – one of the biggest clubs in world football.
“Luke Shaw goes down injured and they take a player from Tottenham who we’d been offered three or four days earlier.
“It was a business decision that we didn’t sign (Reguilon); salaries, loan fees etc.”
According to the Manchester Evening News, United are covering the entirety of Reguilon’s £120,000-a-week salary during his spell at Old Trafford. A weekly wage which would have comfortably made the former Real Madrid man the highest earner in Burnley’s ranks, well in excess of the £40,000-a-week taken home by Josh Brownhill (Spotrac).
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United, meanwhile, turned to Reguilon after initially targeting Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella. Alfonso Pedraza of Villarreal and Valencia talisman Jose Luis Gaya were also considered.
Erik ten Hag is a fan of Tottenham loanee
“He is a very experienced player. A player for big clubs, a player that’s played already a lot of games in La Liga, in the Premier League,” Ten Hag said of Reguilon at the start of September.
“So, he has a very good background, we have seen he can play very intense football, so we are happy.
“While we had a problem with Luke Shaw injured, Ty Malacia injured, they are, for long term, out, so I think we responded very well in that emergency situation.”