Lecce president Saverio Sticchi Damiani has claimed that Manchester United threatened to call off the transfer of Patrick Dorgu if he did not join before the end of the January transfer window.

Throughout the winter, Damiani had insisted that Dorgu would not be leaving in the January window because he was one of the Italian club's best hopes of staying in Serie A. However, in the final full week of the transfer window that all changed.

Suddenly, the deal was back on and by Sunday morning, United had finalised the £29.5m switch for the Danish international. Reflecting on that business in a press conference, Damiani explained why his club had to U-turn so quickly on not selling players in January.

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"It’s an extraordinary operation in every sense," the Lecce president said. "It’s our richest sale ever, and it arrives at a moment where we are in very good shape economically.

"We said multiple times that Dorgu wouldn’t leave in January, but then it happened because of an ultimatum by Manchester United. When they first approached us, we said we didn’t want to sell him now.

"We didn’t set a price or ask to raise their offer. We thought that our answer would halt their pursuit, but it had the opposite effect.

"The Red Devils insisted. We asked a few times to postpone everything to the summer, promising him that he wouldn’t miss out on this opportunity.

"It was a historical step for us, but we wanted to do it in July. Instead, the English side relayed their desire to sign him immediately, as their coach [Ruben Amorim] requested.

"Their message was that the deal would either come together now or collapse. They told the player too.

"We can’t judge Dorgu, as he’s 20, and Manchester United came forward with a big proposal. All those factors led us to believe that we would have gone from being coherent to stupidly stubborn [by not letting him go]."

Dorgu watched his new teammates from the stands on Sunday as they lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace in the Premier League. The wing-back could make his debut for United on Friday night when they host Leicester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.