Former Aalborg BK manager reveals they wanted to sign Victor Lindelof before Manchester United move

Aalborg BK wanted to sign Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof when he was at Benfica.

The Swedish international joined the Red Devils in June 2017 for a fee of €35 million.

He has since played 259 games for the club over the course of seven seasons.

Lindelof was rumoured to be leaving United in the summer with the signings of fellow centre backs Matthijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro, but remained at the club after picking up an injury in pre-season.

Consequently, he has yet to play this season for Erik ten Hag’s side.

Speaking to Tipsbladet, former manager of Aalborg, Kent Nielsen, revealed in an interview that his side had attempted to purchase the player the year before his move to England.

“We were in Portugal on a training camp with AaB when I was the coach there.”

“We played a training match where we played one half against Benfica’s first team and then one half against Benfica’s U23 team, who play in the second tier.”

He went on to say, “it’s very funny because we played, what’s his name, Victor Lindelöf. He was playing in their second-best team at the time. Afterwards, we asked about him to see if there was an opportunity to bring him in. Then a season and a half passed, and then he moved to Manchester United.”

History certainly would have been very different for the Swede if Aalborg had been able to get a deal done for the defender.

Turning to the player’s future, this will likely be his last season at United as his contract runs out this summer and it has been reported that the club are unlikely to offer him an extension.

With a new younger group of centre backs at the club and with interest in Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite still reportedly burning bright, there seems to be little space for the Swedish international in the matchday squad.

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