'Bruno Fernandes wanted me at Man Utd!' - Inter ace Piotr Zielinski claims Red Devils, Arsenal, Liverpool & Barcelona were among teams who wanted him after Napoli exit

The midfielder, who shared a dressing room with Fernandes at Udinese, has claimed that he is still in touch with the United captain and that the Portuguese tried to convince him to move to Old Trafford. Zielinski eventually signed for reigning Italian champions Inter this summer after spending eight seasons with Napoli.

The 30-year-old also claimed that Liverpool sent him a private jet in a bid to lure him to join the Reds while Arsenal, West Ham and Barcelona were also chasing his signature. The Catalan giants were negotiating a swap deal for the player, only for Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis to reject their offer.

Speaking on the Foot Truck YouTube channel, the midfielder said, "At one time, Bruno Fernandes wanted me to end up in Manchester. We are still in touch, we talk quite often – we played together in Udinese, and in one of the matches we practically single-handedly beat Milan. As for West Ham – it was also close, De Laurentiis was also already convinced about the offer, they threw in €35 million.

"There was already looking around for medical care for my wife and child, where I was going to live. Coach [Luciano] Spalletti took me aside once and asked me what was going on, and I said I would rather stay, fight for the championship. He said I want you to stay and that it would be the best version of Zielinski. I stayed because I didn't really feel this London either."

He added, "Liverpool sent a private jet to Florence for me and I flew with my agent Bartlomiej Bolek – we drove up to [Jurgen] Klopp’s house afterwards, we had a great conversation. It was the first time I had flown like that. He said that for him I was a mix of [Ilkay] Gundogan and [Cesc] Fabregas.

"We watched a Premier League match at his place on his giant TV, I had never seen anything like that either. Arsenal were closer to realisation than Barcelona because De Laurentiis didn’t want a few boys from La Masia in return."

The Inter star scored the solitary goal for his national side on Saturday as Poland went down 3-1 against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal. They will be next seen in action against Croatia on Tuesday.