Chelsea offered Manchester United two players as part of the deal to sign Alejandro Garnacho in the summer, but the Red Devils rejected both.
Despite emerging as one of the brightest young talents at Manchester United in recent years, the Argentina international fell out of favour under manager Ruben Amorim.
The winger openly criticised Amorim after defeat to Tottenham in last season’s Europa League final, signalling the end of his career at Old Trafford.
Garnacho joined the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Antony on the transfer list, eventually securing a move to Chelsea.
The Blues paid £40m to sign the 21-year-old, eventually securing the deal on August 30 after a protracted saga.
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Negotiations for Garnacho saw Chelsea try to send players in the opposite direction, with ESPN reporting that they offered both Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku to the Red Devils.
Clearly as Lavia is still at Stamford Bridge and Nkunku is at AC Milan, neither of those proposals were successful.
Why Manchester United turned down Lavia
Manchester United were looking for a new central midfielder over the summer but were reportedly concerned about Lavia’s fitness record.
Those concerns appear to be very valid as the Belgian’s time with Chelsea has been severely hampered by injury and he is currently sidelined again.
Lavia signed from Southampton in 2023 for an initial £53m but is yet to complete a full 90 minutes for the Blues.
He is currently out with a quadriceps injury having also suffered hamstring and thigh issues, making just 29 appearances for Chelsea in over two years.
Nkunku’s slow start at AC Milan
Nkunku also struggled with injury during his time at Chelsea, although not to the same extent as Lavia.
The France international was in and out of the team during two seasons in west London and struggled to hit top form.
He scored 18 goals in 62 appearances, but just six of those goals came in the Premier League.
The former RB Leipzig forward moved to AC Milan in August in a €42m (£36m) deal.
It has been a slow start to life in Italy for Nkunku, scoring just one goal in eight appearances so far and none in his first seven Serie A outings.