Youri Tielemans could have signed for Manchester United in 2019. The club had a conversation with his agent, Peter Smeets, but had other business to complete and were stalling. Anyway, Tielemans had an alternate option.
A club that had won the league more recently than United and could also afford the £40million Monaco were asking.
That club was Leicester. It is why six big clubs are so frightened of those on their tails. Everything the cartel does is not just to increase its own margins, but to limit those of the challengers. The doomed Project Big Picture at first looked generous with extra funding for the EFL below.