Man Utd swiftly rebuffed after approach for Diego Godin

Manchester United made an approach to Atletico Madrid to assess the availability of defender Diego Godin last week and were informed he would not be leaving the club this summer, Yahoo Sport understand.

Rumours emerged on Thursday mornings suggesting Godin was the latest defensive target on United’s wanted list, but Atletico were quick to dismiss the prospect of selling their iconic defensive talisman and are believed to be ready to offer the 32-year-old a new contract.

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We have been told that the approach for the player was speculative from United, with suggestions that the Old Trafford club could trigger a release clause in Godin’s contract irrelevant as the player has made it clear he has no intention of leaving Atletico Madrid this summer.

With the transfer deadline in England now looming large, it looking increasingly likely that United manager Jose Mourinho will not sign the central defender he has been pressing to attract throughout this transfer window, with Leicester’s Harry Maguire, Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld and Barcelona’s Yerry Mina among the names linked with a move to Old Trafford in recent weeks.

However, Mourinho stressed in his press conference on Thursday that he was not expecting to sign players on transfer deadline day, as he suggested he was turning his attentions to Friday’s Premier League opener against Leicester at Old Trafford.

“I’m not confident, I’m not confident and the market closes today so is time at least for me to stop thinking about the market because the market will be closed,” said the United manager.

“So I will have to focus on the players I have and in relation to this first couple of matches, maybe four matches because after Burnley there is national team and a couple of weeks to recover people and prepare people better, is to focus on players available so I’m not thinking about that list I give you, I focus on what we have.”