Manchester United’s pursuit of Pedro was well known and it happened very quickly over the last few weeks.
After his muted celebrations following Barcelona’s Super Cup victory, thanks to Pedro’s goal in extra time, it was clear the Spaniard wasn’t entirely happy at his current club and an exit did seem inevitable.
With a €30m release clause, Man United knew exactly what they had to pay in order to sign Pedro but there were complications with the deal as Barcelona wanted the full amount up front.
After a few days of stalled negotiations, Chelsea swooped in at the last minute and signed Pedro, much to the dismay of a few United fans.
I like Pedro & his time at Barça was a great success. Scored plenty of decisive goals in big games. But his past 3 seasons were substandard.
— Sergi Domínguez (@FutbolSergi) August 20, 2015
Is Pedro better than what we already have? No… We want world class players no squad players. #mufc — Man Utd News (@SirAlexStand) August 20, 2015
Look at things differently, if Utd did actually lose out on Pedro then LVG must be mad. Fully expect big ££ to be chucked about in that case
— James Stretford (@Jamesstretford) August 20, 2015
Or, if you don’t prefer to be that kind: missing out on Pedro because of €2m, at the level #MUFC operate, is extremely poor. — Andrew Gaffney (@GaffneyVLC) August 20, 2015
So Chelsea got pedro ?
— Tom Walton (@TomWalton91) August 20, 2015
No Man united fan can n should admit we don’t need pedro — AdeBanghy (@its_banghy) August 20, 2015
Fans who claim we never needed Pedro n Otamendi, I say B.S.! A lot of us wanted them( club didn’t) Sucks this happened but ready to move on
— Sadikshya Bhandari (@Sadikshya_) August 20, 2015
We all will jump in Joy when United will announce a blockbuster signing and the Pedro sadness will all wash away! #mufc — Ankit Bhimani (@ankitbhim) August 20, 2015
To be honest im happy pedro didnt go to #MUFC, we need more of a defensive player or a finisher on the box
— Jose Huaman (@guayako54) August 20, 2015
The immediate reaction from the club itself was that Louis van Gaal decided to pull the plug on a move for Pedro. Was that the case? There are contrasting stories regarding the situation but if that was really the case then questions have to be asked as to why United went in for him in the first place.
Regardless of what has happened in the last week with Sergio Ramos signing a new deal, Pedro joining Chelsea and Nicolas Otamendi moving to Manchester City, it’s been a great transfer window for United.
That being said, there are still glaring issues in the squad which, if not addressed in the next few weeks, could come back to haunt United this season.