Revealed: Man United & Man City miss out on ‘Turkish Dybala’ after Italian giants broke Super Lig transfer record

Manchester United surprised many in Turkey when they sent Eastern European scout to monitor Cengiz Under during a game against Genclerbirligi back in May.

United rivals Manchester City ended up making the first official bid for the 19-year-old last Thursday.

City planned to sign Under and loan him to Bundesliga outfit Freiburg for a few seasons before bringing him back.

The Turkish international would have joined up with his former Altinordu teammate Caglar Soyuncu had he moved to Freiburg.

“Manchester City had a project for Cengiz Under, they wanted to sign him and loan him to Freiburg,” Basaksehir president Goksel Gumusdag said.

“The plan was for Under to spend a few seasons on loan and then return to City. 

“But Roma came in with an offer that was simply too good to refuse. 

“Under joined us for €600,000 and we sold him a season later for €15 million with a 20 percent future sale clause.”

City wanted to carry out a similar policy to what they employed with Enes Unal.

Enes was loaned out to FC Twente were he scored 19 times last season before being sold to Villarreal for €14 million.

The striker was unable to play at City due to not having a work permit.

Under would have had the same problem due to not having played enough international games.

Unal and Under are first team Turkish international players but will have to be involved in the national setup for 24 months before being eligible for a work permit to play in England.