6 November 2001

UNITED EYE SANZ

Source - BBCSport

Malaga insist Manchester United have not put in an official bid for Fernando Sanz - but claim the Old Trafford club have inquired about the £15m-rated defender.

President Serafin Roldan claimed United were among several clubs that had asked through a third party about the 27-year-old, who is contracted to the Spanish club until June 2003.

Sanz, son of the former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz, has a buy-out clause in his contract of £14.8m.

He arrived at Malaga in the 1999-2000 season after four years at Real Madrid.

Roldan admitted the club would be hard pressed to hang on to the player if they receive a suitable offer.

But he also claimed Malaga are in no hurry to sell a prized asset.

"In the past few days a number of European clubs have contacted us about some of our players," Roldan told onefootball.com.

"Fernando Sanz is a great player and depending on the offer, we would naturally be open to negotiations, bearing in mind offers from other clubs," he added.

"One of those clubs is Manchester United, but we are not looking to sell anyone, especially this early in the season.

"We are not in a hurry to negotiate with anyone regarding our players," said Roldan.

"But United are certainly interested and have been pushing to do a deal as quickly as possible.

"It is always an honour when a foreign club approaches one of our players. It shows we have important players at our club," said the Malaga president.

Sanz told onefootball.com: "I will talk about the proposal from Manchester United this week."

The player also confirmed that he almost moved to England two years ago.