The agent of centre-back Mikayil Faye has claimed he rejected the chance to join Manchester United when he left Barcelona this summer.

The highly rated Faye never actually played a senior minute for Barcelona but was regularly tipped for a bright future, and it was French side Rennes who won the race for his signature after striking a deal worth a reported €12m.

However, Faye’s agent has now revealed Rennes had to fend off competition from United, who failed to convince the 20-year-old that moving to Old Trafford would help his career progress at this stage.

“Manchester United were interested in Faye, but he didn’t like that option,” Andy Bara told Podcast Inkubator. “He wasn’t a regular at Barcelona, so what did it matter if he hadn’t had the same at United? His development wouldn’t have progressed at all.”

Bara went on to claim that Faye only left Barcelona because the Catalan giants needed to raise money and failed to convince Inigo Martinez to leave instead.

“Barca wanted a buy-back clause in Faye’s contract with Rennes and this was the only condition that Barca put forward,” he said. “The clause is €30m. Now it all depends on Faye and his development.

“Mika Faye left because the club needed ‘fair play’ and Inigo Martinez, who the club wanted to sell, refused to leave.”

READ THE LATEST TRANSFER NEWS & GOSSIP FROM AROUND THE WORLD