Even before the January transfer window opened, Manchester United were linked with a whole host of players that Jose Mourinho reportedly wanted to sign to bridge the gap between his side and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. One name that caught the attention of United fans is PSG’s Lucas Moura.
The Brazilian looked set to sign for United back in 2012 when Sir Alex Ferguson was still in charge. The Scot confirmed that the player was a target and he even played at Old Trafford with the Brazilian team during the Olympics that summer.
However, that was the first year of PSG’s massive spending, with Thiago Silva, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi all joining the club on huge salaries. David Beckham also joined on loan halfway through the campaign, earning £170,000-a-week, which was astronomical at the time.
Both the Glazer family and Ferguson were keen to find value in the market and didn’t believe Lucas' free represented that. They missed out on Eden Hazard that summer too after refusing to pay £6m to his agent, and also saw Paul Pogba sign for Juventus after being unwilling to meet his wage demands. "When somebody's paying €45m for a 19-year-old boy you have to say the game's gone mad," Ferguson said at the time.
While money likely played a significant role, PSG also had a strong Brazilian contingent that helped persuade Lucas.
"It was a very difficult moment because suddenly I had to make a choice when I thought I was joining Manchester United," he said in 2016. "I thought about it a lot; I talked about it with my family and I made my choice. Football is like that. You have to choose a team. We forged great friendships and every one of us, each of the Brazilians, we would do anything to help each other. We are like brothers and that really helped me, but Leonardo was the key."
Silva, Alex and Maxwell were all at the club, while World Cup winning Leonardo was the director of football. Five-and-a-half years later, Lucas has over 200 games for PSG under his belt, while he's also made over 30 appearances for Brazil and has won four league titles.
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He has been linked with a move to United since last summer, but those stories are starting to gain more momentum now. Since the world-record signing of Neymar, Lucas is seen as surplus to requirements in the French capital and has made just five appearances in Ligue 1 this season, all from the bench.
Last season he scored 12 goals and assisted five in the league, working out at a goal or assist every 143 minutes on the field. He made a slow start to life in France, but every season his goal tally in all competitions has increased, from five in his second season, to eight, 13 and then 19 last term.
Reports suggest PSG would be willing to let the winger leave on loan this January, before making any deal permanent in the summer. The figure needed to keep him from next season is said to be around the £40m mark. Lucas is open to moving to England too, even if he did prefer Ligue 1 over the Premier League when he first left Brazil.
“It’s a dream for any player having the opportunity to play in the Premier League,” he said in 2016. “Everybody knows it is the most competitive league in the world. It’s really great to follow it, as you can’t predict who is going to win the trophy. Maybe one day I’ll have the privilege of playing there.”
United have strong competition for places in the attacking roles, with Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata all performing well in supporting Romelu Lukaku this season. Yet the Belgian striker hasn’t had the best service and Mourinho may see Lucas as a way of allowing Lukaku to succeed.
After a bright start to the season, Henrikh Mkhitaryan has had a poor campaign and reached an all-time low in his awful showing in the 0-0 draw against Southampton last week. Mourinho’s patience is wearing thin, and reports suggest United would be open to allowing the Armenian to leave.
Having fallen behind Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool in terms of spending this season, Mourinho will be keen to bring in a quality attacker who can help them in their bid to win some silverware this season. Lucas Moura may well be the man for the job.
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