Jose Mourinho may have successfully hijacked a deal to sign Pedro from under the noses of Manchester United, but the Chelsea manager failed to repeat the storyline after he fell short in his late efforts to snatch Antony Martial during the final hours of the transfer window, reports The Sunday Times.
Martial, 19, became the most expensive teenager joined on the final day of the summer window when he joined United for a staggering £36m, and according to Duncan Castles of The Sunday Times, Chelsea were willing to meet the deal that could rise as high as £58m through bonuses.
According to the report, the Blues had been tracking the France international all summer and were hoping to sign the former Monaco striker next summer, but saw their plans brought forward by United’s shock move.
The Premier League champions had successfully intervened in United’s deal to sign Pedro late last month, but failed in stealing Martial away from them too, after being told by Monaco they were too late with their offer.
Martial arrives to the Premier League as the most prolific teenager in Europe. In fact, since the start of last season, no teen has scored more league goals than United’s new No.9 (9).
For more stats on Antony Martial, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
Very good deal for United, Pedro is now so fast and is blatant diver. Martial has few similarieties to T. Henry and football 'sense' or 'brain" :)