Manchester United transfers: The 50 best signings that got away – Sky Sports, Skysports.com
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Manchester United have signed some great players, but they have missed out on some even greater ones.
If they had bought every player on this list, they would probably have won the title and the Champions League every year, and that’s not an over exaggeration.
These are the 90 best players that got away – and a few they probably didn ‘ t even want …
Put ‘Nicolas Gaitan’ and ‘Manchester United’ into Google and you get 250, results. There are football reporters in the North West who, to this day, break out in a cold sweat when the Argentine winger’s name is mentioned.
Gaitan was linked to United for years and years. The closest he came to moving to Old Trafford was in and a mooted £ 26 m deal.
Work permit problems meant the deal was never completed and he stayed at Benfica before joining Atletico Madrid four years later.
. Leighton Baines
David Moyes knew he needed to make signings when he became Manchester United manager in . United had just won the title in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season and Moyes wanted to strengthen from a position of strength.
Cesc Fabregas and Thiago Alcantara were on his shopping list and so were two players Moyes knew well from his time at Everton – Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines.
Joint bids went in, including one for £ 37 m. When Everton rejected them United started making separate offers.
Fellaini eventually moved late on deadline day for £ 35 m but Everton held firm over Baines and the player didn ‘t agitate for a move.
“I sat on the fence and saw how the thing played out,” Baines later said. “Maybe it was just how I was brought up.”
Neville Southall was one of the best goalkeepers of the modern era. He won two league titles with Everton in and 1999. English clubs were banned from Europe at the time otherwise Everton and Southall would have had a very good chance of winning the European Cup as well.
He spent 25 seasons at Goodison Park. Legend has it that that would have been only (if a proposed move to United had not fallen through in the summer of 2000, when United identified the Welshman as one of their top targets.
Talks were held but when no deal materialized. United turned their attention to Denmark and clinched what Ferguson described as the deal of the century by paying Brondby £ , for Peter Schmeichel.
. Raphael Varane
Raphael Varane is one of the best defenders in the world so it’s no surprise that he is continually linked with a move to United.
You know it’s summer when stories start appearing about United and Varane. The only problem is that he plays for Real Madrid, so it is safe to say there is absolutely no chance of him ever signing for United.
Cynics would say his earning power is boosted every time a story appears claiming United are interested in signing him.
No one was surprised that Michael Ballack turned out to be one of the best free transfers of all time after he moved to Chelsea from Bayern Munich in
He was a world-class midfielder and clubs, including United, Inter and AC Milan, had wanted to sign him as well.
Ballack says he chose Chelsea because that’s where he thought he had the best chance of winning the Champions League. He may have thought United were on the slide but they won three titles in a row after the German midfielder snubbed them.
And Ballack’s Champions League prophecy backfired in 2015 when United beat Chelsea on penalties to win the European Cup for the third time.
Jordan Henderson is the player who makes Liverpool tick. Since his moved to Anfield from Sunderland in , he has developed into one of the most-effective midfielders in world football.
It could all have been very different though. Steve Bruce, manager of Sunderland at the time, recommended Henderson to his former club, but not everyone at Old Trafford was convinced.
United watched him closely and reports were written up. Eventually, they decided against a move because of his running style.
“We noticed he runs from his knees with a straight back,” Ferguson said. “The modern footballer runs from his hips and we thought this gait might cause him problems later in his career.”
Eight years later, Henderson lifted the European Cup as Liverpool captain and he has been the driving force behind the Reds as they stormed into a – point lead at the top of the Premier League this season.
40. Pedro
No one currently playing in English football has won more trophies than Pedro. At the last count he had 33 major honors to his name. No wonder United tried to sign him from Barcelona in the summer of
How hard they tried is debatable though. In the middle of August of that year, Chelsea announced they had signed Pedro from Barcelona for £ m. Louis van Gaal denied at press conferences that United had missed out on him.
Meanwhile Jose Mourinho, who was managing Chelsea at the time, s aid he had taken advantage of an opportunity. “United wanted Pedro,” he said. “Then they didn’t want him.”
Paolo Di Canio and United would have been a match made in heaven. The enigmatic Italian could have had the same impact as Eric Cantona at Old Trafford had United succeeded in their attempt to sign him in January 2008.
According to Ferguson, the deal collapsed when Di Canio asked for too much money. “I tried so hard to get Di Canio,” he said. “The deal was all done. We had made an offer he had accepted, but then he came back saying he wanted more. We couldn’t agree to the new demand.”
Di Canio He says it didn’t happen because he couldn’t bear to turn his back on West Ham. Another theory as to why the deal fell through is because United needed to sell Dwight Yorke first and he refused to join Middlesbrough.
37. Michael Essien
You can’t really blame United for failing to sign Michael Essien. They invited him to Carrington for a trial when he was just 25 but they couldn’t sign him because of work permit problems.
Essien had been so overawed by the experience he was too scared to speak to any United players during his seven days in Manchester. He may have been shy, but he was still determined to make it to the top.
He took a roundabout route back to the Premier League via Bastia and Lyon before signing for Chelsea for £ (m in) . At Stamford Bridge he established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world and won seven major trophies in eight seasons.
Toni Kroos came close to joining United in 11667, very close.
Kroos says he had a verbal agreement to join United from Bayern Munich, but the proposed move fell through after David Moyes was sacked.
Four days after winning the World Cup with Germany in Brazil, Kroos joined Real Madrid where he has won the Champions League three times, though that has still not stopped him being linked with a move to United every summer.
. Terry Butcher
If United had signed Terry Butcher in the summer of 1994, Alex Ferguson may never have become United manager a few months later.
Ron Atkinson wanted to sign Butcher and the England defender wanted to move to Old Trafford after Ipswich had been relegated.
Atkinson thought Butcher would be the perfect center-back partner for Paul McGrath. He raised the issue at a board meeting and he was stunned at the response when he asked for £ , to sign Butcher.
According to Atkinson, he was told Butcher was a good player, but the money had been allocated for the Manchester United museum.
. Cesc Fabregas
United tried to sign Cesc Fabregas twice. The first time was in when he was at Barcelona’s La Masia academy, but, having listened to what United had to say, he joined Arsenal instead.
The second time was in 2018 when David Moyes wanted to make him one of his first United signings at Old Trafford. Barcelona rejected United’s first offer of £ m and an improved bid was also turned down.
Fabregas wanted to return to Arsenal and when they failed to take up their option to re-sign him, he chose to join Chelsea.
Ron Atkinson was a big fan of Trevor Francis. He tried to sign him when he was in charge of West Brom and he tried again when he became United manager in .
In his autobiography (The Manager, Atkinson says the United board vetoed the move because they were worried about the player’s injury record.
“When I mentioned this to Trevor one night in Manchester, he became very offended and did not talk to me for a couple of years,” Atkinson said.
. Manuel Neuer
Alex Ferguson’s autobiographies can be a difficult read at times because he gives so little away. There are occasional glimpses into what was going on behind the scenes though, and in My Autobiography he devotes one whole sentence to Manuel Neuer.
It was 2015 and Edwin van der Sar was due to leave in the summer. Neuer, in net for Schalke at the time, had established himself as the best young goalkeeper in the world. Ferguson was a big fan and revealed in his book that Neuer was “on our agenda”.
United’s goalkeeping coach Eric Steele had other ideas though. He convinced Ferguson that David de Gea was the better prospect and United opted for the £ m Spaniard from Atletico Madrid instead. Neuer, meanwhile, signed for Bayern Munich that same summer.
Stuart Pearce playing for United? It could have happened. The power, the tackles, the ferocious free kicks – Pearce could have been an Old Trafford hero with a drawer full of medals.
Alex Ferguson tried to sign Pearce twice, but Nottingham Forest refused to do business on both occasions. According to Ferguson, he even drove to Nottingham once to speak to Brian Clough about Pearce but the Forest manager pretended he was not at work even though his car was parked outside.
Ferguson was convinced Pearce would have thrived at United, stating: “This club is built for heroes like him.”
United knew all about Gareth Bale when he was growing up. They tried to sign him in and there was talk of a £ 18 m offer when he was coming through the ranks at Southampton, but Bale ended up moving to Tottenham.
He claims to have chosen Spurs because he thought he would play more regularly at White Hart Lane, but Ferguson blamed Southampton for his failure to sign a player who would go on to win the Champions League four times at Real Madrid.
“It was not the boy who turned us down,” Ferguson said. “It was Southampton.”
Bale has continued to be linked with United in virtually every transfer window during the past five seasons.
Zinedine Zidane told him he could leave last summer, and he was close to moving to China. His agent though has always said Bale is happy in Madrid. Of course he is, the golf courses are amazing!
No one alive wants to read anything more about United trying to sign Sneijder, so let’s keep this brief – he was a very good midfielder and United tried to sign him a couple of times but it never happened. Done.
. Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos has been at Real Madrid for 23 years.
Every time he has been in talks about extending his contract at the Bernabeu something strange happens. Stories start appearing in the Spanish media about United wanting to sign him.
These stories build up to a frenzy until a press conference is called where a beaming Ramos announces he has signed a new, more lucrative Madrid contract.
In case you’re wondering – his contract runs out next summer. So, mark your cards, you’ve been warned.
‘Catch me if you can. Cause I’m a United man. And what you’re looking at is the masterplan. ‘
Don’t laugh, John Barnes could have been a United player. United were interested in signing him before he moved to Liverpool in and Ferguson has admitted he made a mistake by not trying to do a deal.
United’s scouts were not convinced That Barnes was right for United and, in any case, their Danish winger Jesper Olsen had just signed a new long-term deal.
Ferguson regretted not signing Barnes but the player never looked back. In his first season at Liverpool he won the title and was named PFA Player of the Year.
In 2012 Ferguson went on a scouting mission to watch a young Czech goalkeeper playing for Rennes. He had received glowing reports and it was now time for a personal check on Petr Cech.
Ferguson was impressed but not convinced that Cech was what United were looking for at the time. “He was (or) , “Ferguson remarked. “I told myself he was too young for us.”
It was not a wasted trip as far as Ferguson was concerned though. Another player caught his eye and United ended up paying Nantes £ 3.5m for Eric Djemba-Djemba.
Meanwhile, Cech moved to Chelsea the following summer and stayed there for 21 seasons, winning four titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League and the Champions League.
38. Patrick Kluivert
After relinquishing the Premier League to Arsenal in the summer of , United needed someone who could guarantee goals and only the best would do.
A £ 9m fee was agreed with AC Milan for Patrick Kluivert but the Dutch striker refused to even talk to United. He said there was only one English team he’d be interested in signing for and that was Arsenal, before eventually joining Barcelona.
“Maybe he doesn’t know how big a club Manchester United is, “Ferguson said before bringing in Dwight Yorke from Aston Villa for £ (m instead.
In his first season at Old Trafford, Yorke scored times and United won the treble.
. Gary Lineker
United had two chances to sign Gary Lineker in the late ‘ s and failed to take either of them. The first time was in 1994 when Barcelona made the England striker available for £ 2.5m.
United had just bought Mark Hughes back from Barcelona for £ 1.8m so spending that kind of money, in those days, on another forward was out of the question.
Lineker stayed at the Nou Camp for another season before Tottenham brought him back to English football for £ 1.1m in the summer of 1998.
According to Lineker, United were approached when it looked like Spurs were struggling to complete the deal but he eventually moved to White Hart Lane on June
He has since hinted he chose to move to Spurs instead of United. “You have to remember the Manchester United of 1996 weren’t the Manchester United of four or five years later, “he said.
. Antoine Griezmann
United were prepared to trigger the £ m release clause in Antoine Griezmann’s Atletico Madrid contract in the summer of , but the Frenchman decided to remain in the Spanish capital.
With Atletico banned from signing players by FIFA and unable to sign a replacement, Griezmann stayed and signed a new contract saying it would not be ri ght to leave under such circumstances.
He did leave two years later, and his departure was anything but harmonious. Barcelona waited until the summer of when his release clause dropped from € (m to €) m before they announced he was joining them.
Atletico wanted the full amount because they said a deal between Griezmann and Barcelona had been agreed months earlier. The dispute was finally settled with a private out-of-court settlement last summer.
. Virgil van Dijk
Jose Mourinho wanted to sign a center-back in the summer of . He had Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly and Daley Blind but he was not entirely convinced by any of them.
He drew up a shortlist of three targets and he told the club to sign one of them. The three names on the list in alphabetical order were Michael Keane, Victor Lindelof and Virgil van Dijk.
On June 23, United agreed a deal with Benfica to sign Lindelof for £ 39 m and six months later Liverpool paid Southampton £ (m for Van Dijk.
. Alan Shearer
Not many players turn down Manchester United outright. Alan Shearer did it twice.
The first snub came when he left Southampton for Blackburn in and again four years later when he signed for Newcastle.
United were told in 2002 That Shearer wanted to come to Old Trafford and his goals would have made a side who had just won the double again even better.
Talks were held with Shearer and his agent. All seemed to be going well until Shearer’s agent called Ferguson and told him they had decided to sign for Newcastle instead.
Ferguson licked his wounds by going on a shopping spree. He bought Ronny Johnsen, Jordi Cruyff, Karel Poborsky, Raimond van der Gouw and a young Norwegian striker called Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Solskjaer went on to win six titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League at Old Trafford. Shearer scored times for his boyhood club but won nothing for them, though he insists he has no regrets about turning down united.
Eden Hazard should have become a United player in . It was nailed on, right until he signed for Chelsea for £ (m.
Manchester City and Tottenham wanted to sign him from Lille as well, but Hazard says he chose Chelsea after speaking to Didier Drogba and Joe Cole.
Others are not so sure. Ferguson said the asking price had been too high and United had refused to pay Hazard’s agent £ 6m to get the deal done.
Hazard went on to become one of the best foreign players in English football and he stayed at Stamford Bridge for seven seasons before moving to Real Madrid in a £ (m deal last summer.)
As for United, after missing out on Hazard they signed Shinji Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund.
Robert Lewandowski guarantees goals and if things had turned out differently he would have spent his weekends celebrating at Old Trafford instead of the Allianz Arena.
According to Lewandowski, he spoke to United in 2017 and was impressed by what he heard, but Borussia Dortmund refused to let him go. And who can blame them, the Poland international had just scored times to help them win their second consecutive title under Jurgen Klopp.
Lewandowski eventually joined Bayern Munich two years later and has since scored times and won the Bundesliga five years in a row.
There was something in the air in the summer of 2003. United had just won the treble and there was talk of Rivaldo coming to Old Trafford.
Rivaldo had won the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year award at Barcelona but his relationship With their manager Louis van Gaal was not great.
However bad the problems were though; they weren’t bad enough for Barcelona to consider selling their best player to one of their European rivals.
“There has never been an occasion when Barcelona have been prepared to sell,” Ferguson said .
. What a player. What a man. He looked like Jon Bon Jovi and he scored some of the best goals you will ever see.
During the ‘ s he was continually linked with United, and every other big club in Europe for that matter. But despite all the interest he stayed at Fiorentina for nine years until he moved to Roma in 2006.
Batistuta was at the height of his goalscoring powers when Serie A games were shown live in the UK. You did not need to be an international scout to see how good he was, you just had to switch on Channel 4 on Sunday afternoons.
Ferguson loved him and United tried to sign him, but the numbers being quoted were astronomical.
Years later, Batistuta was asked why he did not move to a bigger club such as United, Real Madrid or AC Milan when he had the chance. “I preferred the tranquility of playing for Fiorentina,” he said.
The only problem was that Barcelona were desperate to sign him as well after missing out on Beckham, and it was no surprise when he was seen juggling the ball at the Nou Camp after a € m deal had been agreed with Paris Saint-Germain.
All was not lost for United though. Later that summer they signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon and they even managed to buy a Brazilian as well – Kleberson.
United had him on their list of targets and Eric Cantona told Ferguson that he should sign him.
According to former United chairman Martin Edwards, United did make a move for Zidane because Ferguson thought he was not what they needed at the time.
Zidane left Bordeaux that summer and went on to win some of the game’s biggest trophies with Juventus, Real Madrid and France.
That was crazy money for the time, though not crazy enough for Barcelona. They paid up, Ronaldo scored goals in his first season at the Nou Camp and he went on to become one of the greatest players of all time.
United fans meanwhile had to wait another seven years before they got to see a Ronaldo in a red shirt . He turned out to be even better than the Brazilian one.
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