I do hope we at least tried it on though.
There's actually all kinds of reasons why it could happen. I gather he's not playing much anyway. Also there's uncertainty there over the manager's job. And Africans don't tend to do very well playing for them, in any case. Surely he'd be happier in London?
And what of the longer game? What if they simply don't fancy him anymore, maybe they'd like to cut their losses and move him out. That's what we'd want our club to do, isn't it.
And surely the idea that the mighty Manchester United would be petty enough to deny him to us on the basis that their future happiness depends on the services, or otherwise, of one dodgy Ivorian defender is laughable. It would be way beneath their dignity
Perfectly understand them appearing to squash the rumours immediately though, of course, for the reasons you pointed out.