Man Utd ignored Sir Alex Ferguson transfer advice to sign star last summer
The legendary Manchester United manager suggested his former club snap of highly-rated 19-year-old defender Ronnie Edwards from Championship outfit Peterborough last summer
Manchester United reportedly snubbed Sir Alex Ferguson's suggestion to sign Peterborough star Ronnie Edwards last summer.
The Red Devils announced last week that Erik ten Hag will take over as club manager come the end of the season, and the current Ajax boss looks set to have quite the job on his hands. United have endured countless struggles this campaign and this summer will almost certainly consist of a squad overhaul as many of the club's underperforming crop are culled.
It has now emerged that one rising star who United missed out on last summer was Posh defender Edwards - a teenage talent tipped for greatness by Ferguson. The great Scot recommended the England Under-19 international to United, however the Red Devils reportedly ignored his transfer advice.
That's according to The Sun, who claim United did not follow up their ex-manager's tip and tap-up the talented teen. It now appears Ferguson's former employers may live to rue their reluctance to make a move for the highly-rated defender.
Bundesliga trio RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund are all understood to be leading the race for Edwards as the 19-year-old could become the latest English talent to ply his trade abroad. Should the Posh prodigy up-sticks and head to Germany, he would be following in the footsteps of the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham.
Both Crystal Palace and Tottenham are said to be showing interest in Edwards, who has featured for Posh on 36 occasions in the Championship this season - starting 29 of those outings. It has also been claimed that a staggering 98 scouts were in attendance for one of the defender's England U19 matches, with many attending in order to assess Edwards in particular.
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Not only does the England starlet come with a high reputation, but also a hefty price tag. It is believed a fee somewhere between £15million to £20m will be what it takes to prise the defender away from Posh, despite their impending relegation to League One.
Peterborough's Director of Football Barry Fry recently issued a hands-off warning regarding Edwards, insisting it would take a club-record fee to snap the starlet up - one which would surpass the £10m Brentford paid Posh for Ivan Toney back in 2020. Fry told the Peterborough Telegraph: “That record would be smashed if we were to sell Ronnie.
“There was plenty of interest in him before he started playing regularly in the Championship and that interest will only grow further when he plays for England in the summer... If he was to leave, ideally he’d go and be loaned straight back to us for a year."