Saul Niguez 'Very Flattered' by Previous Manchester United Interest

Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez has expressed his delight at being frequently linked with a move to Manchester United.

Saul has been linked with a move to Old Trafford in virtually every transfer window in recent seasons, with former United defender Rio Ferdinand previously heaping praise onto the midfielder. A move has never materialised, however, and is unlikely to following United's signing of midfielder Donny van de Beek.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, Saul expressed his gratitude towards the constant links to United, describing them as 'very positive'.

"I am very flattered that a club like Manchester United, or other teams that ask about me, take me into consideration," he began. "And important people from those clubs [such as Ferdinand] speaking well of me means that I am doing things well at Atletico Madrid".

Following United's £39m signing of Van De Beek and their desire to bring winger Jadon Sancho to the club before the 5 October deadline, a move for the Atletico man now seems highly unlikely, if it was ever that likely in the first place.

Saul was linked with a move to United as recently as this summer when a cryptic countdown on his Twitter account suggested that he would be announcing his 'new club', alluding to a potential transfer.

Ferdinand added fuel to the fire by responding to his tweet with the eyes emoji at the time, but the announcement didn't turn out to be Saul announcing a move to Manchester United. Obviously.

It was instead him announcing the creation of his new youth project 'Club Costa City' alongside his brother Aaron, based in his hometown of Elche. The project focuses on bringing together more than 500 players from different age categories, run as an academy for youth players.

Saul joined Atletico in 2008 and has since become an integral member of the first team since breaking through the youth ranks, amassing close to 300 appearances for the club.