Roma's New Turkish Star Claims Liverpool Stopped Him Signing for Manchester City

AS Roma new boy Cengiz Under claims that Liverpool's capture of Mohamed Salah saw him move to the Egyptian winger's old club rather than Manchester City.

The Manchester Evening News report that Under, who is one of the hottest young prospects in Europe, was all set to join Pep Guardiola at the Etihad until the Reds' signed Salah from Roma in a club-record deal.

This prompted the Serie A club into finding a replacement quickly before their rivals could steal in for the 20-year-old Turk, consequently signing the prodigy from Basaksehir in a £12m deal.

Both Manchester clubs were reportedly keen on acquiring the player's signature, who has been dubbed the 'Turkish Dybala'. Under can operate on either wing or centrally, and recently scored on his AS Roma debut against Tottenham. 

He revealed: “They signed me as Salah’s replacement so I am here to play. I could not believe the transfer happened so quickly.

"We were in other talks with Man City, then I got a call from my agent who said ‘the Roma deal is done’, I couldn’t sleep that night.”

After seemingly missing out on the signing of Under, Guardiola has admitted that he hopes to tie up 'one or two' more signings before the August deadline, as he looks to get his Manchester City career rolling with some silverware.