Napoli director reveals the real reason Alejandro Garnacho rejected a move from Man Utd in January

Napoli director of sport Giovanni Manna has revealed the shock reason why they didn't sign Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho in January.

Throughout the January transfer window rumours began circulating that several of United's biggest names could leave the club before the end of the month.

Marcus Rashford, Antony and Tyrell Malacia all secured loan moves away from the club but, despite links to both Chelsea and Napoli, Garnacho stayed at Old Trafford.

But now, Napoli's director Manna has spoken out to explain exactly why their interest in Garnacho never materialised into him joining the club.

Following the departure of star winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Napoli were desperate to bring a new forward to the club, and Garnacho was their top target.

Despite submitting a bid for the 20-year-old, a transfer never came to fruition as Manna has confirmed that the Italian side failed to agree on a contract with Garnacho.

“We made an important bid to Manchester United for Garnacho. We really wanted him," Manna said, via Fabrizio Romano.

“We weren’t able to agree on personal terms with Alejandro, he requested an important salary to leave in January and we must respect our players”.

According to Capology, Garnacho's current contract with United has him earning £50,000 a week, which would place him comfortably outside of the top ten earners at Napoli.

However, given his impressive performances in recent seasons, it is very likely that the Uruguayan was asking for a much higher wage if he were to join the Serie A club, especially if he was expected to come in as a direct replacement for club legend Kvaratskhelia.

Regardless, United manager Amorim will no doubt be happy that a deal for Garnacho couldn't be agreed, after he admitted in the final days of the window that he hoped the winger would stay at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese manager revealed that, after he was dropped from the Manchester derby earlier in the season, Garnacho immediately got his act together and proved his worth to the team.

"He changed right away since that game from City," revealed Amorim.

Alejandro Garnacho was linked with a move to Napoli. (Image: Getty)

"The way he understands things and understands that I just want to help him. I just want to win games.

"The approach when we talked with him. He changed in everything. The way he recovers. He understands that sometimes I am a different coach, that I am demanding in my way and sometimes it is hard to make the first impact.

"He understands that he is never in a bad way. It is always for him. I think all the merit is for Garnacho. He is improving and we want to continue to improve with Garnacho.

"He understood the position, the moments of playing inside and outside. The connection with Mainoo. I think he is improving a lot."