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27th August 2018
08:57am BST

Spurs went into the summer, according to Manchester Evening News, hoping to sell on the likes of Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente, Mousa Dembele, Moussa Sissoko and Danny Rose. If they were able to shift two or three for a decent price, Mauricio Pochettino would be given some money to play with. The club's other big undertaking was pay increases for top stars like Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
Levy and United chief executive Ed Woodward did have a conversation during the summer, it has been reported, and it was more a case of Tottenham making enquiries after United players than the other way around.
It was known that Levy asked if United were either willing to loan or sell Anthony Martial to them. It now transpires that Tottenham were also keen on United midfielder Juan Mata.
Both advances were rebuffed while there was not much movement on the possible Alderweireld deal. One possibility could have been swapping Martial and Aldeweireld but, despite a counter argument from Jose Mourinho, the United board were not in favour of that.
And so we were left with Martial and Mata staying at Old Trafford with Alderweireld and Rose remaining with the Tottenham squad. Keep an eye out for wistful glances during this game.Explore more on these topics: