Former Newcastle boss Steve Bruce has claimed Manchester United offered big money for Sean Longstaff during his time at the club.
The midfielder, 26, broke out in the Magpies first-team shortly before Bruce's arrival in the summer of 2019 and he has since impressed on Tyneside - recently earning calls for a potential chance with the England national team.
At the time of his emergence, there were rumours of a £50million price tag on homegrown talent Longstaff amid talk of United's interest.
Bruce has now revealed that the Red Devils were serious and made a "colossal" bid that had the player "insistent" on making the move to Old Trafford.
"I inherited Sean at a time where a big-money move to Manchester United was on the cards," Bruce is quoted by the Mirror as saying.
"Newcastle were turning down a colossal amount of money, and that was swirling around at the time.
"Sean was recovering from an awful injury at the time. He's entitled to his opinion, and he's shown maturity over the last couple of years.
"We had him almost five years ago. He was a lot younger then, a lot of things were swirling around, and that was combined with a long-term injury.
"He's proven to be a very good player. Sean's move to Man United was never close. He was insistent that it was at one point, but I knew Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mike Phelan - it was never on the cards."
