MANCHESTER UNITED never targeted signing Virgil van Dijk because they had their sights on other players instead.
Reports have emerged claiming Jose Mourinho had decided not to chase the Dutch defender when he was in charge at Old Trafford despite his name being mentioned to him.
But SunSport understands United had never even highlighted Van Dijk as a potential target, believing he was always destined to leave Southampton for Liverpool.
Instead the club scouts and manager came up with Kalidou Koulibaly and Toby Alderweireld as players United should be going for in the transfer market.
Later, the club then followed up on a recommendation from then-boss Mourinho to chase Harry Maguire.
But Van Dijk appears to have not even been flagged for consideration by the club, with it common knowledge within the game he was intent on joining Liverpool.
Manchester City took a similar decision not to pursue the former Celtic player, knowing Jurgen Klopp had already been working hard behind the scenes to get the centre-back to Anfield.
United spent two years trying to sign a top class centre-back after Mourinho decided it was an area that needed strengthening.
Senegal star Koulibaly was the main target – but Napoli refused all United’s advances, along with those of Chelsea.
Tottenham star Alderweireld then became a priority, with the Belgian unsettled in North London and aware he could secure a lucrative move to a host of top European clubs.
But though he was an obvious improvement on the players at Old Trafford, United decided against pushing through a deal because they wanted to target younger talent with more years ahead of them.
At the same time, Liverpool got themselves into trouble with their pursuit of Van Dijk after it emerged Klopp had met the player without the permission of Southampton.
It meant a six month delay in completing his signing, with Saints only agreeing to drop a tapping-up complaint to the Premier League when Liverpool paid a premium £75m for him in January 2018.
United instead switched their attentions to Maguire, on the back of his starring performances for England at the World Cup in Russia, but were unsure of paying the £40m Leicester were looking for.
Ultimately that delay helped contribute to the poor displays which cost Mourinho his job last December – and meant United had to double their offer to finally clinch maguire’s signature this summer.