Moyes sets record straight over Baines, Herrera and Coentrao

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The Manchester United boss has went into detail on why deals for the three players did not happen.

Manchester United’s sole acquisition of Marouane Fellaini over the summer is seemingly less than what the Premier League champions would have hoped for, with the club missing out on a number of other targets.
Attempts were made to sign a creative midfielder and a new left-back as competition for Patrice Evra, but in the end the Old Trafford faithful have had to make do with the solitary addition of Fellaini.

It was reported that the giant Belgian had a release clause of £23m, which expired about a month before United actually signed him, resulting in a £27.5 million fee. Moyes has explained that he also wanted to sow up a deal for Leighton Baines at the same time, hence the reason Fellaini did not join earlier.
"No, because we chose to do it the way we did,” the Scot said when asked if he would have preferred to have signed Fellaini earlier for less money.

“We wanted to keep the chance with Leighton Baines until the last minute. Only at the last minute did we split the deal. That was the way we decided to do it."

When asked if the chance to sign Baines in the future was now dead, Moyes conceded defeat.
"I would have to say so, yes," he admitted.

After failed attempts to bring Cesc Fabregas and Thiago Alcantara to the club, United turned their attention to Athletic Bilbao’s Ander Herrera. With rumours of fake agents trying to negotiate a deal on the club’s behalf, Moyes has set the record straight.

“The stuff about Herrera, we made an offer for £23m and we were never going to go to the buy-out clause (€36m),” he said.

“All the rubbish that was talked about that - with people going in, they were never working on behalf of us. Never at any time did we increase our offer."

United fans will be slightly disappointed that there are not more new faces at the club, but Moyes is remaining upbeat about his summer business.

"Did we miss out on a lot of targets? No. Was it disappointing? No. We tried to get some great players to join Manchester United and for different reasons we couldn't get them,” he continued.
"In the end we knew at the start of the window that we liked Marouane Fellaini, you've heard my explanation on why we didn't do it sooner.

“I wanted Leighton Baines right up until the end and we tried right up until the last minute and we thought we had the Coentrao deal done and we just lost it near the end. I just wanted something there."
Fellaini is line for a United debut today against Crystal Palace.