Mats Hummels made his return to Borussia Dortmund on Thursday, re-joining the club from rivals Bayern Munich. 

The German defender has spent his whole career switching between the two Bundesliga sides. 

He broke through at Bayern in 2007, before moving to Dortmund in 2009. 

Hummels spent eight seasons with BVB, before switching back to Munich in 2016, where he played for three more years. 

On Thursday, the 30-year-old completed his £33 million return to Signal Iduna Park - and this will likely be his last move between the two clubs. 

But according to reports from Germany, Hummels could well have ended up at Manchester United instead. 

Bild have revealed that the Premier League side made a lucrative offer for the German, with Ed Woodward offering him a bigger contract than Dortmund did. 

The Old Trafford outfit were keen to do a deal as they are in the market for a centre-back this summer. 

It's believed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will only have around £30 million to spend, as it's likely a deal for Aaron Wan-Bissaka will soon be completed. 

United also feel they need a commanding, experienced defender following their poor campaign - so Hummels was within budget and ticked both those boxes. 

But the Premier League club were in for a shock because the German turned down their offer for 'sporting reasons'.

He was not willing to play in the Europa League next season despite being offered more money and opted to rejoin Dortmund, who will feature in the Champions League.

Missing out on Hummels will be a big blow for United. In past years, the club have been able to sign the biggest players in the world, with Old Trafford being a desirable destination.

In 2017, they secured Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly in the same transfer window.

In 2019 though, they've failed to sign Hummels, because there will be no Champions League football at United next season - and it's likely he won't be the only player to turn down an offer. 

How the mighty have fallen.