It has emerged that French giants Olympique Marseille wanted to sign Manchester United defender Eric Bailly on deadline day.
Bailly who is just returning from the African Cup of Nations where he represented Ivory Coast has found games hard to come by at Old Trafford and there was a belief that he would be shipped out on a loan deal last month.
According to journalist Ryan Taylor, former Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli, currently in charge of Ligue 1 side Marseille, was looking to add to his defensive department by signing the center-back but a deal couldn’t be agreed.
Marseille was on the verge of losing Duje Caleta-Car to West Ham and Sampaoli viewed Bailly as an adequate replacement but the deals fail to go through.
AC Milan are still looking for a centre back. No fresh contacts yet for Eric Bailly, Abdou Diallo still in the list – Tanganga among options but AC Milan only interested in potential loan move. 🔴 #ACMilan
Tottenham are not open to let Tanganga leave on loan before next week.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 18, 2022
L’Equipe reports that Bailly was not keen on moving to France and Marseille opted out of the deal too after Duje failed to move to London.
Bailly joined United in the summer of 2016 but injuries have derailed his progress with the defender only making 113 appearances for the club since then. He has fallen down the pecking order to Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, and Raphael Varane.
