Manchester United were certainly not ready to face another season of mediocrity this season, as showed by their appointment of Jose Mourinho in the summer and the big transfer budget he was handed.
The Red Devils spent a massive £146 million on new talent last summer, with Paul Pogba, Henrikh
Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly all arriving at Old Trafford in big-money deals while Zlatan Ibrahimovic was signed on a free transfer.
Ironically, the best of those signings came in the form of a free transfer, with Ibrahimovic having netted 15 times in the Premier League this campaign. And the Swede's goals could be enough to secure them a Champions League place.
But while United heavily backed Mourinho in the summer, it appears they could have smashed the £200 million barrier had they acquired another of their key targets.
Antoine Griezmann has been linked with a move to United from Atletico Madrid this summer and the Red Devils are understood to be willing to meet his £85 million release clause, but Mourinho's similar offer for Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller was reportedly rejected.
Bayern's financial partner, Jan-Christian Dreeson, confirmed to Bild that the Red Devils had indeed made a colossal offer for the Bayern and Germany striker in the summer which was just £4 million short of what they eventually paid for Pogba.
Huge Muller offer rejected
“Then came a fax from England. For us, however, a sale of Thomas Müller was never discussed. If a player fits us, we would be stupid to give him a short-term prospect of a record profit and to weaken him.”
Had Muller been playing for almost any other team in Germany, it's hard to imagine such an offer being rejected and the German may well have become a Premier League player by now.
Out of form
But Red Devils fans won't feel too aggrieved that they missed out on the 27-year-old considering the form of Ibrahimovic and the fact that Muller has netted just four times for Bayern this campaign, in all competitions.
Heading into the Bavarian's Champions League last-16 first-leg with Arsenal, the striker hadn't found the net in five matches, while his international tally matches the numbers he has produced for Bayern so far this season.
It seems unlikely that United will go in for Muller again, considering the Bundesliga giants stance on the player and the form he has displayed this campaign, while Mourinho is confident of landing Griezmann during the summer.
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