Solskjær reviews Man Utd's 1-1 draw with Southampton
Manchester United's transfer deadline day was dominated by the news of Cristiano Ronaldo's return to the club, but they also made an unlikely big-money sale. Daniel James departed the club for Leeds United in a deal worth £25million, joining an illustrious group of players in the process.
James departed Old Trafford on deadline day after two years at the club.
The Welsh winger failed to establish himself as a first-team regular at United, and fell further down the pecking order following Ronaldo's return.
As a result, United opted to offload him on deadline day, with James joining Leeds for £25m two-and-a-half years after his move to Elland Road was scuppered in the January 2019 deadline day.
Marcelo Bielsa is said to have personally pushed for the forward to join, with his desire matched by the club, who shelled out just £1m shy of a club record transfer fee to sign him.
The fee was also significant for United, as it was their third-biggest sale of all time.
Daniel James has joined exclusive club including David Beckham with Man Utd transfer exit (Image: TWITTER)
United are known for splashing out on players, including the likes of Paul Pogba, Harry Maguire and Angel Di Maria.
But when it comes to selling players, the Red Devils rarely offload players for hefty fees.
As a result, only Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Di Maria have left the club for larger fees than James.
Ronaldo famously departed for Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-world record fee of £80m.
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"For me and my football career, it was completely the right decision," he said. "Don't get me wrong, I had an unbelievable time [at United ], I made great friends, the staff were amazing to me and so were the fans, but for me, it's time to move on career-wise and just to move forward, so yeah I'm looking forward to it.
"I'm a different player and a different person. I'd only played half-a-season when I nearly signed here last time, but I've now got games under my belt at the top level and I'd like to think I can add something here.
"He's a top manager [Marcelo Bielsa], respected around the world and it's always nice to be liked by someone like that and it's one of the big reasons that I'm here today. Whether he likes you or not, it doesn't mean I'm going to play every week.
"So, I've still got a lot of fighting to do to get try to get into the team because it's a great group of players here."