Amrabat reaches World Cup last 16 after United rejected £21m permanent deal

Sofyan Amrabat is preparing for a World Cup last-16 tie with Morocco against Canada in Houston on Saturday, two years after Manchester United declined to sign him permanently — despite manager Erik ten Hag pushing to keep him at Old Trafford.

The 29-year-old midfielder joined United on a season-long loan from Fiorentina in 2023, a reunion with ten Hag, who had previously managed him as a teenager at Utrecht. Amrabat played the full 90 minutes as United beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley that season, yet the club chose not to trigger his £21m purchase option.

“I have a special relationship with Ten Hag since I was a 20-year-old at Utrecht,” Amrabat told the Daily Mail in 2024, shortly after joining Fenerbahce. “He wanted to keep me this summer.”

When pressed on who was responsible for the decision not to extend his stay, Amrabat pointed away from the dugout. “You’ll have to ask Mr. [Jason] Wilcox,” he said, referencing United’s then director of football.

Amrabat has featured in one of Morocco’s four group-stage matches at the 2026 World Cup, playing the full game in a 4-2 victory over Haiti. The Atlas Lions are now chasing history: a place in the quarter-finals would put them on course to become the first African nation to win the tournament.

United, meanwhile, spent £51m on Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Manuel Ugarte as their long-term answer in the holding role — a fee more than double what Amrabat would have cost. Ugarte’s future at Old Trafford is now further complicated by a serious knee injury sustained during the World Cup, which ended Uruguay’s group-stage campaign and faces him with a lengthy rehabilitation.

The contrast is a pointed one for Amrabat, who admitted ahead of facing United in the Europa League that season that his feelings toward his former club were mixed. “I hope they lose,” he said before the Istanbul fixture. United drew 1-1 and went on to reach the Europa League final that year.