Manchester United 'were willing to pay £45m for Moussa Diaby over summer'

Manchester United were reportedly prepared to pay up to €50m (£45m) to sign Bayer Leverkusen attacker Moussa Diaby during the summer transfer window.

The 21-year-old enjoyed a productive 2019-20 campaign for Leverkusen, scoring eight times and contributing eight assists in 39 appearances in all competitions.

According to Bild, United identified Diaby as a possible transfer target over the summer, and the 20-time English champions were prepared to pay as much as €50m (£45m) to sign him.

However, the report claims that Leverkusen signalled that they were not prepared to sell the France Under-21 international due to his importance to the side.

Diaby, who has scored twice and registered one assist in nine outings at club level this term, has also previously been linked with Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund.

The left-sided attacker arrived at BayArena from Paris Saint-Germain in July 2019.