Man Utd left red-faced as star set to snub January transfer and sit out for five months

Manchester United won’t be getting their hands on Dani Olmo in January as the Barcelona attacker would prefer to sit out the rest of the season rather than moving to Old Trafford. The Red Devils have been linked with the 26-year-old in recent days after Barca failed in their attempts to register the player for the second half of the campaign.

United are in desperate need of reinforcements after suffering their ninth Premier League defeat of the campaign on Monday evening.

Ruben Amorim’s team were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle at Old Trafford as they remained 14th in the table.

The Red Devils are expected to delve into the transfer market once it reopens to bolster their squad. And it looked like Olmo would be up for grabs after Barcelona lost a court case to secure his registration.

The La Liga club shelled out £52million to land the player from RB Leipzig in the summer but were only able to register him until the end of the calendar year due to financial restraints.

Barca reallocated part of Andreas Christensen’s salary to Olmo when the former Chelsea defender suffered a long-term injury but were unable to extend that arrangement into 2025.

Olmo’s temporary contract expires today (December 31), meaning he is technically free to join a new club on a free transfer from tomorrow.

But Olmo’s agent Andy Bara has revealed to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano that his client has no intentions of turning his back on the Catalan giants.

“The decision made by Dani is to stay at Barcelona as he wants play for Barça,” Bara explained. “We are not considering any other option. Dani wants to play for Barcelona.”

Olmo has featured in 11 of Barcelona’s 19 La Liga matches this season, with four of those appearances coming from the bench.

The Spain international, who bagged three goals and two assists at Euro 2024 as his country lifted the trophy after defeating England in the final, has found the back of the net five times in those Barca matches. He has also contributed a goal and an assist during his four Champions League appearances.

Last week, it was reported that Olmo’s agent had flown into the UK on a private jet ahead of the January transfer window and attended Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with Everton.

But it appears Olmo won’t be moving to the Premier League any time soon after previously revealing he wants to “win titles with Barcelona”.