It’s surprising how random things can be, even in a company that has a turnover of billions like Manchester United does. For a long time, Manchester United had their eyes on Lucas Bergvall right from the time he was at Brommapojkarna.
The youngster, who for several years has been referred to as Sweden’s greatest talent, went through Djurgården to Tottenham. The bosses at Old Trafford had made a bid and the now 18-year-old midfielder was ready.
Now there has been a very surprising piece of information from Manchester Evening News journalist Samuel Luckhurst explaining why it was not Manchester United.
On two separate occasions, he trained with Manchester United. The first time was in 2020, when Bergvall was 14 years old. The second test took place in 2022 shortly after he turned 16.
Although United could not formally sign Bergvall until 2024 – i.e. when he had turned 18 – the club arranged the trial matches to establish interest. But then something happened.
According to Luckhurst, who cites sources, there was some personnel turnover within United’s recruitment department in 2022 – and that contributed to Bergvall being lost. Later that year, he famously moved from BP to Djurgården instead.
It was United’s scout in Scandinavia, Sergio De Zouza, who had spotted Bergvall. Luckhurst claims that there were rumours that United were considering making a bid to BP of just under £1.5 million for the Swedish talent.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, the transfer package went to Djurgården before Tottenham bought Bergvall last year for 10 million euros.
Transfermarkt, before his match-winner against Liverpool in the cup was 12 million euros, that value is sure to increase if he continues to impress.
