Man United tried to sign me: Pato

Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato claims that Manchester United made a deadline-day approach to sign him but that they acted too late to complete a deal.

Pato is on loan at Sao Paulo this season with his parent club, Corinthians looking to sell the unhappy striker.

Apart from the Red Devils, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland were also said to be linked with the forward, but he instead declared that he had no intentions of leaving his current side.

Talksport are reporting that Alexandre Pato himself has recently revealed that he had a very nice offer from Manchester United just hours before the summer transfer window slammed shut.

“My focus is here [at Sao Paulo]”.

Pato added: “I won’t lie to you that I think yes [about the future]”. I won’t stop wondering about the future, but I’m focused on Sao Paulo. I have to do my job on the pitch, there are people out of it, my agent, family, they take good care of these things.

The Brazilian front man notched up 51 goals for AC Milan during his six-year spell in Italy, and many punters here in the Transfer Tavern still believe he could do a job in a top European League. There’s every chance that Pato is talking self-serving nonsense, but given United’s transfer dealings in the last few weeks altered between inertia, panic, luck and incompetence, it is entirely possible it is true, too.