Man Utd ‘could have signed Croatia World Cup penalty hero Livakovic for £4.3m but chose Dubravka loan transfer instead’

WORLD CUP hero Dominik Livakovic could have signed for Manchester United last summer, according to reports.

Livakovic has twice been Croatia‘s penalty shootout hero during the World Cup and has generally had a stellar tournament as Croatia take on Argentina later today for a spot in the final.

He saved three penalties in the Last 16 shootout against Japan before denying Rodrygo to send Brazil crashing out in the quarter-finals.

And it has now been revealed the 27-year-old could have signed for the Red Devils in the summer for as little as £4.3million.

According to The Athletic, Livakovic was on the radar of a number of Premier League clubs, including United, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest.

However, rather than sign the Dinamo Zagreb stopper to provide backup to David de Gea, they instead went for a loan move for Newcastle‘s Martin Dubravka.

This added him to Tom Heaton to restock United’s keeper options to three after Dean Henderson went on loan to Forest.

Forest themselves were close to signing Livakovic for £5.1m before deciding to sign a higher-profile keeper following the departure of Brice Samba.

Leicester, who struggled with goalkeeper Danny Ward in goal at the start of the season, were also offered Livakovic in the summer.

But like their Prem counterparts, they went for a cheaper option and signed Alex Smithies on a free transfer.

BETTING SPECIAL – BEST BETTING APPS FOR THE WORLD CUP

Livakovic is now sure to be on the market for a far higher price than he was previously.

Indeed, the Croatian’s World Cup exploits are certain to prove influential in him getting a move to a big side.

Only Poland’s Wojciech Szczesny has more saves than Livakovic and he has registered the best post-shot expected goals to goals allowed value of any goalkeeper at the tournament, with a +3.1 rating.

This means he has prevented 3.1 more goals than an average keeper would have.

Erik ten Hag remains in the market for a long-term goalie solution, with doubts remaining over De Gea’s ability to distribute and sweep the ball effectively.

Livakovic’s World Cup numbers in this regard are also noteworthy, and may just convince them to complete a belated swoop for him.