Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen held talks with Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during the summer transfer window.
The Danish international has been heavily linked with a move away from London after talking about his desire to take up a 'new challenge' somewhere away from the Tottenaham Hotspur Stadium.
Upon the player's revelation, Real Madrid were instantly instilled as favourites to sign the 27-year-old although their interest seemed to drop as the window drawn on. That gave the opportunity for Manchester United to make their move, with Solskjaer looking to build a squad capable of challenging towards to top of the Premier League.
The Manchester Evening News report that the Norwegian manager personally spoke to Eriksen in order to gage his interest in swapping London for Manchester, with the player making it clear that his preference was to move to Spain.
There was also somewhat of a transfer triangle, with Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba also wanted by Real Madrid. As well as the player's reluctance to give up on a move to Spain, the Red Devils were hesitant in making a move for the Spurs man because of the doubt that it would put over the Frenchman's future at the club.
It is reported that Spurs encouraged bids for Eriksen in the final days of the transfer window, the player is out of contract at Spurs at the end of the season, and if the club risk losing him for nothing should they not be able to convince the player to sign a new deal.
Manchester United are also said to have pulled the plug on the deal due to their wariness of dealing with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who is notoriously difficult to deal with during the transfer window.
Eriksen was a second half substitute during Spurs' 3-1 opening day victory over Aston Villa, reiterating his importance to the Tottenham team this season.
