The two Premier League giants have both made major changes to their midfield engine rooms this summer, with Liverpool in particular having a complete revamp in the middle of the park.
The Reds have added Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch, while United signed Mason Mount early in the window and then Sofyan Amrabat on deadline day.
However, both clubs were strongly tipped to move for Real star Federico Valverde before the window slammed shut.
Indeed, it’s claimed that in the last 10 days of the window, Anfield chief Jurgen Klopp saw efforts to sign either Aurelien Tchouameni or Valverde completely snubbed.
Liverpool then moved onto Gravenberch, landing the Netherlands star from Bayern Munich in a £34million deal.
As for United, they ended up targeting Valverde, along with Barcelona’s Franck Kessie, but ended up landing Sofyan Amrabat on deadline day instead.
Valverde worried about Real game time
And now Spanish publication Nacional claims that Valverde has ‘already noticed’ that he will not be an ‘undisputed starter’ at Real this term.
The highly-rated Uruguay international was dropped by Carlo Ancelotti for their 2-1 victory over Getafe on Saturday, with Jude Bellingham scoring a late winner to continue his sensational start to life at the Bernabeu.
Valverde had started the previous three LaLiga fixtures but had to settle for a 10-minute cameo at the weekend as Ancelotti opted for a midfield trio of Luka Modric, Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga with Bellingham playing as a No.10.
And the report adds that Valverde has ‘a feeling of being secondary’ and he ‘needs more prominence’ after snubbing United, Liverpool and also Chelsea over the summer.
It’s now understood that he ‘half regrets having made this decision’ with the ‘best thing he could have done is to have packed his bags’.
