Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke with Christian Eriksen before Manchester United ended their fleeting pursuit of the Tottenham playmaker.
Spurs encouraged United to bid for Eriksen in the final days of the Premier League transfer window since the 27-year-old has entered the last year of his contract and stressed his desire to leave.
The MEN can reveal Solskjaer personally spoke with Eriksen to gauge his interest in joining United last week and, despite the Dane's admiration for United, Solskjaer received confirmation Eriksen's preference was to move to Spain.
United were also uneasy about the prospect of recruiting Eriksen due to the vested interest of Real Madrid. United sources suggested Madrid were lobbying Spurs to entertain a bid from United for Eriksen to plunge Paul Pogba's future into more uncertainty.
Real coach Zinedine Zidane wants to sign Pogba rather than Eriksen, whom Madrid unsuccessfully bid for last year when Julen Lopetegui was coach, and the Bernabeu club had a risible £27.4m plus James Rodriguez offer for Pogba rejected by United earlier this month. United ultimately prioritised keeping Pogba over reinforcing their attack with a belated bid for Eriksen.
The MEN previously reported Tottenham were 'gutted' United did not trigger Alderweireld's £25million release clause before it expired on July 25, having explored the possibility of signing the Belgian last year. Eriksen started on the bench for Spurs in their opening Premier League win over Aston Villa.
United showed tentative interest in Eriksen but were wary of dealing with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy. United have not signed a player from Spurs since Dimitar Berbatov in 2008 and Sir Alex Ferguson once said negotiating with Levy were 'more painful than my hip replacement'.
Levy encouraged United to enter the bidding for Gareth Bale in 2013 and the club had a world record £86m offer accepted but Bale was fixated on joining Real Madrid. Levy's attempts to obtain as large a fee as possible delayed Bale's protracted £85m move until deadline day.
United scouted Eriksen while he was at Ajax and the Denmark international was keen to join the club in 2012. His agent spoke to Ferguson to gauge United's interest and the Scot is believed to have said he admired Eriksen but needed to watch him more closely before a bid could be sanctioned. United eventually turned to the £17m Shinji Kagawa, who was running down his contract at Borussia Dortmund.
