'Man United were very close to signing Mohammed Kudus' - ex-Tottenham scout

Manchester United went very close to signing Tottenham Hotspur forward Mohammed Kudus before he joined Ajax.

That is according to former senior Tottenham scout, Bryan King, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.

The 25-year-old has made a strong return from injury for the Lilywhites this season, and was a rare ray of light in Saturday's 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa.

Tottenham signed Kudus from West Ham in a deal worth £55million last summer, but he was missing from the start of January after suffering a serious hamstring injury.

The Ghana international will now hope to return and help his team out of a rut, with Roberto De Zerbi's side yet to win a Premier League game this season.

The international break will also provide the likes of James Maddison with a chance to build their fitness ahead of a key run of fixtures in October.

'It was surprising Mohammed Kudus did not join Man United'

Kudus's career began in Ghana with the Right to Dream academy, before he was picked up by Danish side Nordsjaelland in 2018.

"I've known this boy since 2017 when he was playing for Nordsjaelland and so did a lot of clubs," King told Football Insider. "Arsenal, Spurs, Man United, Aston Villa I was working with, were all aware of this player and were aware that he could be bought for somewhere in the region of about £800,000 at the time."

He continued: "I know Manchester United were very close to signing him and they were messing around, as did Arsenal and as did Tottenham, and the thing that put Aston Villa out of the race was because they were in the Championship.

"That put Villa out of it, but those three clubs all had the chance to sign him. The fee was about €7m, but Ajax came in and bought him for €9m. It's funny because it was Erik ten Hag had brought him in, and it was very surprising that he never joined Man United.

"My dear friend Tommy Moller Nielsen, who passed away a couple of years ago, was very much into Nordsjaelland and it looked as though it was going to be between Spurs and Man United for this player.

"Spurs seemed to back out and now, of course, Spurs have paid £55m for him, which again goes to show what kind of recruitment was going on at that football club."

Kudus to come back to bite Man United

It is not only Tottenham to have started the Premier League season with a struggle for points.

Man United have won just one of their opening five games, and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton last week.

They will hope to bounce back when they welcome Tottenham to Old Trafford after the break, in what will be an early-season six-pointer for both teams.

Kudus will hope to be the difference maker and come back to haunt the club that could well have signed him.