Adnan Januzaj turned down PSG in favor of Manchester United

Adnan Januzaj

One of the few bright sparks in an otherwise dark and dull season for Manchester United has been the rise and rise of Adnan Januzaj. But, it almost wasn’t as the youngster’s agent revealed that the Manchester United winger turned down a lucrative offer from Paris Saint-Germain in October. This was just before signing a bumper new contract with the Red Devils, which made him “the world’s highest-paid youngster”.

Although official figures haven’t been provided, sources say that the 19-year-old signed a five-year contract reportedly worth around £50,000 a week. Since then, the Belgian has only gone on from strength to strength and was even voted the Man of the Match against Hull City on Tuesday night.

Speaking to a Belgian publication Sport/ Voetbalmagazine, Adnan’s agent Dirk De Vries said “Minutes before Adnan signed a new deal at Manchester United, PSG offered us an astonishing deal. As Adnan was a free agent at the end of the season, the Qatari were ready to offer anything. It could have been interesting from a commercial point of view. But money has never been a deciding factor in his choice.

His agent also added that getting more money was never the objective. “I can say Adnan’s the best paid youngster in the world. He earns more than [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi when they were 18. It could have been interesting from a commercial point of view. But money has never been a deciding factor in his choice.”

After Tuesday night’s game, former United captain and Hull manager Steve Bruce said that his performance showed his vast potential. “It can’t be dark times when you have someone like Adnan Januzaj, he is only 18 and he looks a proper, proper player,” he said. “In Januzaj they have the outstanding young player in Europe.”