Middlesbrough rejected chance to buy Man Utd winger Nani for cut-price fee
Middlesbrough could have signed Manchester United winger Nani for a cut-price fee just months before his departure from Sporting Lisbon, it has been revealed.
The Portuguese winger was a hot property with Sporting Lisbon back in 2006 when he was reportedly offered to Boro for £3.5m.
The club’s newly appointed manager Gareth Southgate apparently passed up the opportunity and, the following summer, Nani signed for Manchester United in a £17m deal.
Silkman, speaking about potential deals that he failed to complete, told sport.co.uk : “Recently, the biggest one I have missed out on, I saw a player in Portugal a few years ago called Nani.
“I tried to do a deal with Middlesbrough who I was very close to at the time; I did a lot of deals when Steve McClaren was manager.”
“I offered Nani to Middlesbrough and Gareth Southgate didn’t fancy him. He was £3.5m. He went to Manchester United for $27m and it was only eight or nine months later, that’s all it was.”