United made costly mistakes, now they'll pay twice as much for him

The Old Trafford club was linked to a large number of players during the summer as they started their rebuilding towards becoming an elitist club on the pedigree of PSG, Real Madrid, and local rivals Manchester City under a new manager.

Dutch giant, Ajax was raided thrice by Manchester United during the summer break. The first move was to sign highly-rated manager Erik Ten Hag as their club manager. Ten Hag then sought two acquire two of his former players at Ajax to join him in the new chapter in Manchester.

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United relentlessly pressed Ajax with bids to acquire the signature of Lisandro Martinez while fending off competition from North London in their target. The Red Devils then tabled an irresistible offer for Antony Santos and Ajax gave in once more.

The club's decision to sign Antony was heavily influenced by Ten Hag, who has a great understanding of the player's quality and urged the club to pursue the deal. The signing of Antony for a record fee shut down all hopes that they would build on their interest in a then-rated 25 million euros talent.

WHO DID UNITED MISS OUT ON AND WILL NOW PAY DOUBLE FOR?

United's need to desperately address their attacking situation has seen them reignite their interest in PSV Eindhoven's Cody Gakpo who was previously available for 25 million euros in the summer but they decided to cool off their interest then. Now the 23-year-old Netherlands international is their priority signing in January and would cost United at least 50 million euros according to new reports.