Manchester United Target Wasn't Interested In January Move

Manchester United were very quiet when it came to incomings in the January transfer window, and that's because one of their targets had no interest in a move.

The battle to finish in the top four in the Premier League at the end of the season is amongst the tightest it's been, with United fighting with West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur for the final Champions League place.

January would have been a perfect time for the teams to improve their chances by bringing in some impactful signings but only Spurs did, signing Juventus duo Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski, who is surprisingly a big admirer of Adnan Januzaj.

The other three teams were heavily linked with several incomings but none happened, leaving fans pretty frustrated at 11pm on Monday.

One problem for United was that midfield target Amadou Haidara didn't want to join them, although it's because the RB Leipzig player didn't want to join anyone in January, according to his current boss.

"It’s especially the case with the boys who are at the Africa Cup," Leipzig technical director Christopher Vivell told Sky Germany when asked about players not moving last month.

"Amadou Haidara has been with us for a long time and he’s an important player.

"I don’t think he really wanted that, just to go somewhere else."

Haidara was reportedly wanted by Ralf Rangnick. Image: PA Images

Haidara, who was at Red Bull Salzburg when Rangnick was director of football, had been in Cameroon with the Mali national team until last Wednesday.

They crashed out on penalties to Equatorial Guinea and it wouldn't have left United much time to do their transfer work, if the player had wanted to leave.

Despite the fact that he didn't want to move from Germany this month, the 24-year-old has previously talked about his love for United.

"Everyone had a favourite team as a kid. Mine was Manchester United," he told German outlet Bild back in December.

"I was a big fan of Cristiano Ronaldo, I liked Paul Scholes, Patrice Evra, Edwin van der Sar, Anderson."

Rangnick and Haidara at Leipzig together. Image: PA Images

Rangnick isn't guaranteed to be United boss next season, when his time as interim is meant to end, but he could still hold sway on Haidara's potential move.

The German is set to take up a position as a 'consultant' even if he doesn't get the full time manager gig, although it's not been defined exactly what that will mean.

United's midfield has been heavily criticised in recent weeks and adding Haidara would likely boost the quality in their options, and so will the return of Paul Pogba.

The France international has been out injured since November but is expected back in the coming weeks, reports have claimed that he will renew his contract at the end of the current campaign, if Rangnick is still the manager.