Marko Arnautovic turned down Manchester United, rather than the reverse, according to the player's agent.
Austria striker Arnautovic emerged as a surprise target for the Premier League side over the summer, having previously worked with manager Erik ten Hag at Twente. However, he ended up remaining at Bologna and has enjoyed a productive start to the Serie A season.
A section of United's support voiced their concerns over the mooted transfer for Arnautovic and the club are said to have pulled out of a deal after a not-insignificant amount of backlash. According to agent Tiziano Pasquali, though, things went down a little differently to how they were first reported.
“Yes, Juventus and Manchester United had come forward,” Pasquali told Gianluca di Marzio (via Sport Witness ). “From the English, we had received a written proposal, and the negotiations had continued even after some contrary opinions from their fans.
“But in the end, it was Marko who chose not to drag it out too long and to stay at Bologna. How can you think that he is now in a bad way?”
Juventus eventually turned their attentions elsewhere, signing Poland striker Arek Milik on loan from Marseille. United, meanwhile, opted to stay with the strikers they already had, with wide forward Antony the only attacking signing they made in August.
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Arnautovic, who spent six years in the Premier League with Stoke and West Ham, has been in impressive goalscoring form in Italy this season. He has six goals in nine games, the joint-most in Serie A, though the Rossoblu have only scored eight in total and are languishing towards the foot of the table.
United made a similarly slow start, but have won five of their last six games to sit fifth in the Premier League table. The most recent of those wins saw Cristiano Ronaldo score his first league goal of the season to help defeat Everton, and Ten Hag has given his verdict on a man who might have ended up leaving Old Trafford over the summer.
"I want to support him as good as possible," Ten Hag said of Ronaldo before United's victory over Omonia Nicosia on Thursday. "We have certain demands from players, what we expect in certain positions.
"I want to get the best out of him, he's in better shape now and I'm happy with that. At the start, it was the case [lack of fitness], it's proven once again, no one can miss a pre-season."
A 1-0 victory over the Cypriot Cup winners moved Ten Hag's team one step closer to the next stage of the Europa League, although Real Sociedad still lead the way in Group E.
