Manchester United have a lure that only perhaps Barcelona and Real Madrid can match after attracting some star names to Old Trafford over the years. Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the most famous name to have donned the red shirt of United in recent memory, but Ronaldinho is living proof that there is a finite number of players they couldn’t quite convince to move to Manchester.
If things had gone differently at certain periods in the club’s history, Sir Alex Ferguson might have been able to bring some other world-renowned players to the Premier League when United had dominated the Premier League and Europe in the 2000s.
Instead, the Scot had to settle for winning the treble with the ‘Class of 92’ stars David Beckham, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, adding the likes of Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roy Keane into the mix as some of the best to have graced the pitch for the Red Devils.
He wasn’t the only one though. David Moyes, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer missed out on some key names who went on to establish themselves elsewhere.
Express Sport narrows it down to 15 players that went close to joining United, but never quite signed on the dotted line.
Ronaldinho: The Brazilian magician was targeted as a replacement for David Beckham, who was also linked with Barcelona. But the Blaugrana agreed a £23m deal for the PSG winger, with Sir Alex Ferguson blaming chief executive Peter Kenyon for failing to ‘get the job done’.
Erling Haaland: Manchester City’s record-breaking striker was on the verge of joining United in January 2020 when the £17million deal broke down over a release clause. He subsequently joined Borussia Dortmund and has broken dozens of scoring records since then.
“Well I did try. But when I met his father he was quite formidable. I got a shake of the head. That’s all I got.
“He did say ‘my grandfather was Milan, my father’s Milan, I’m Milan and my son is Milan. Forget it’.”
Paul Gascoigne: Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was ready to move for Gascoigne after being dazzled by the midfielder – 20 at the time – back in 1987. But United were caught napping, with Tottenham stealing in by offering Gascoigne’s parents a house in the North East to reside in.
Zinedine Zidane: The Frenchman had caught the eye of United’s former chief scout Les Kershaw in 1995 when he was at Bordeaux. However, his loyalty to Eric Cantona meant more to the Scot and he decided against making a move. In 2001, Zidane joined Real Madrid in a world-record £46.8m transfer from Juventus and the World Cup winner is widely recognised as one of football’s most talented midfielders.
Paolo Maldini: As the famous story goes, Ferguson had a chat with Paolo Maldini’s father Cesare as he tried to engineer a move to Old Trafford, only to be met with resistance from the diehard Milan fan – and he spent his entire career with the Rossoneri. The Scot said: “Well I did try. But when I met his father he was quite formidable. I got a shake of the head. That’s all I got.”
“He did say ‘my grandfather was Milan, my father’s Milan, I’m Milan and my son is Milan. Forget it’.”
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