A top official at League One side Derby County was actively pushing for Manchester United to recruit Malcolm Ebiowei over Crystal Palace, according to a report from The Sun.

This same report has revealed that the Rams were confident of receiving a bigger compensation fee for his services if he had moved to Old Trafford over Selhurst Park, with a potentially bigger chance of the teenager returning to Pride Park on loan as well.

However, the Eagles have seemingly won the race for his signature with director Dougie Freedman personally driving the 18-year-old to the English capital to get this signing over the line.

Although United boss Erik ten Tag and assistant coach Steve McClaren both pushed to seal an agreement - the ex-Rangers man opted to join Patrick Vieira's side instead as he prepares to link up with another former Ram in Luke Plange.

Striker Plange joined Palace in January but was loaned back to his former side for the remainder of the season, with Wayne Rooney only having a very limited number of options up front at that point.

There is seemingly less hope that the third-tier side can agree a loan deal for Ebiowei, who established himself as a real asset at Pride Park during the latter stages of the 2021/22 campaign but won't play any further part for the Midlands club.

The Verdict:

In fairness, there's a chance Ebiowei could be loaned out by Palace but they may want to send him out to a second-tier team to see if he can perform at that level consistently throughout a whole season.

Similar probably applies with Plange and with Rooney not at the club anymore, it remains to be seen whether United would have even handed him back to the Rams for the season if he had gone to Old Trafford.

Rooney departing is a real game-changer because they may not be able to recruit the calibre of players they could have done when the United legend was at the helm, making this summer an even trickier one for the Midlands outfit.

The compensation fee is the most important thing though because in the short term, that could help them to remain afloat financially with a takeover deal yet to be sealed despite multiple parties being interested in buying the club.

As long as they can receive that fee quickly, it will be extremely useful to them and they should try and fight for every penny they can get considering the 18-year-old is such a big talent.