• Premier League

Kagawa will not leave Manchester United

Shinji Kagawa has failed to cement a place in the first-team © Getty Images

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Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund will not be signing Shinji Kagawa during the summer transfer window, with his agent telling ESPN he will not be leaving Manchester United.

Kagawa, 24, had been linked with a move from Old Trafford after failing to cement a regular first-team place, with the Daily Mail reporting that Atletico had hoped to bring the midfielder in on loan.

"Shinji will currently not be leaving Manchester United. He wants to fight for his place," agent Thomas Kroth said. "Because of the Confederations Cup, he did not have a full pre-season and therefore still has a training deficit. That's why he, until now, has won hardly any playing time."

"Atletico made an enquiry, although this was never an issue for Shinji."

Earlier this week a campaign named #freeshinji had been started by Borussia Dortmund supporters. The fans had hoped to persuade the Champions League finalists to bring Japan international Kagawa back to the Westfalenstadion, where he made his name.

The #freeshinji campaign has trended worldwide on Twitter, but will not end in success now Dortmund have confirmed that an approach to re-sign him was rebuffed by both the player and his club.

"After the departure of Mario Gotze was certain, our first idea was to assess how things stood in the case of Shinji Kagawa," Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said.

"Shinji has always said that he would one day return to Dortmund but, after a call, it was clear that neither the player nor Manchester United were interested in an exchange at this time."

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