The one that slipped the net: Players Manchester United missed out on
Michael Essien‘s flirtations with Manchester United are well fabled, back in 2005 the man labelled as ‘The Bison’ said:
“I had always dreamed of playing in Europe and, as a boy, my team were Manchester United. When they offered me a one-week trial I just couldn’t believe it, I was so happy. I remember being there and thinking ‘Wow, this is the biggest club in the world’. My biggest hero was Roy Keane. I just loved the way he used to play, his attitude and commitment. I still try to play like him now and maybe people compare us as I play a similar holding role in midfield as he used to. At the end of the trial, the club said they really liked me and wanted to sign me. But they could not sort out a work permit and the move never happened.”
But this was 2005 when United was in transition and the money of Chelsea was a massive lure so the Ghanaian despite his own self professed love of the club ended up in London where he has shone.
Yet there is more! A couple of weeks ago the midfielder added this to the story:
“I had two trials at United, but I was seen as too small. I think Sir Alex was looking for a certain type of player and I wasn’t the one then.”
Irony at its finest as Essien’s all action powerful displays have become his trademark! On a personal note I would love him here, quality player and we are currently lacking his kind of bite in the midfield.
Alan Shearer was a quality striker. Strong as an ox, good in the air as well as with both feet I feel he is vastly under rated by those talking about the finest strikers the game has produced and it is no wonder Sir Alex tried to sign him, twice. When we first came knocking in 1992 Shearer was knocking them in at Southampton where his performances saw him called up to the England squad. It is often alluded to that Shearer took the money and ran in joining Jack Walker’s Blackburn (where he won his only career silverware the Premiership in 1995) ahead of us as we just missed out to Leeds in the league but it would not be the last time we missed out on him.
As his days at Ewood Park were coming to an end Sir Alex again tried to sign the Geordie striker, and a strong Euro 96 tournament strengthened his resolve. Things had changed since our last attempt, as we were coming off our second league and cup double in 3 seasons and it looked like he would finally sign for us. Guess again! Shearer opted to sign for his hometown club of Newcastle for a record £15m where he remained until he retired in 2006.
As they say every cloud has a silver lining, when we missed out on him the first time we in turn signed Eric Cantona and the second time we signed an unknown Norwegian named Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, not bad at all! As an extra kick from when we first tried to sign him up until his retirement he won just the Premier League whilst I would be here all day trying to list what we won.
Last season when Arjen Robben scored that sensational volley to put us out of the Champions League there was a collective sigh as we all thought of what could have been. In essence Robben was ours. Having first made contact under Kenyon in the summer of 2003, he visited Old Trafford with his father and both agreed Old Trafford was the place for him for the 04/05 season. The transfer was as good as done but we low balled PSV with a £5m offer when they had verbally agreed a deal for £10m.
The insult prompted the legendary response from PSV chief Harry Van Raaij who claimed the most the derisory bid would get was a shirt with Robben’s autograph.
Seeing the hitch Chelsea now with Kenyon in their employment and knowing the intricacies of United’s deal swooped with a £12m offer and the rest is as they say history. In his first season at Stamford Bridge he and Damien Duff ran the wings majestically as Chelsea won the league and although injury has really blighted him, when on form as he showed last season he is a joy to behold. Could you imagine him on the left with Ronaldo on the right? A fullback’s nightmare!
Click here to see who else makes the list and the stories behind their failure to join United.
Regarded as one of the finest players England ever produced and the most exciting talent of the time having just won the Barclays young player of the year award for 87/88, Sir Alex went away on holiday to Malta in the summer of 1988 thinking he had agreed a deal to sign the young Geordie who had promised Sir Alex he would become a United player.
You can only imagine Sir Alex’s shock when he got a call from Martin Edwards whilst on holiday to say that Gazza had then reneged on his promise and signed for Tottenham, who to sweeten the deal, bought a house for Gascoigne’s parents.
Gazza would go on to make a name for himself at clubs like Spurs, Rangers, Lazio amongst others but nothing like he would have had he joined United (Martin won’t like this but I think it’s true!) and problems with his mental health and alcohol have plagued his life. Gazza himself has expressed his regret at not joining United,
“Maybe if I had stayed at Man U I might have been still there, I don’t know, you just look at these players and the squad of young kids that play, young Rooney that’s there, the Neville Brothers and Becks, the way he (Ferguson) just brought them on and there are so many.
I got invited to the academy and it is a magnificent place and you can see the way he treats his players, he treats them with respect but he also makes men out of boys.
It took me six years to get back talking to Sir Alex, I called him from Lazio and asked him would he re-sign us. He was with Eric Cantona and he said he would see what Eric Cantona was going to do but I think everyone knows if you do something to Sir Alex Ferguson the way I did you don’t get a second chance.”
Just as interestingly as Gazza’s take on the situation is Sir Alex’s who claimed his biggest regret as United manager was not signing Gascoigne and claimed he could have saved him:
“We had Bryan Robson, a Geordie. Steve Bruce, a Geordie. Gary Pallister, from Middlesbrough… we had a structure of players who could have helped him and it could have given him some discipline.”
Probably the one that stands out in recent memory more than any other is how Ronaldinho slipped through our fingers (again another thank you to Peter Kenyon).
In 2003 having just sold David Beckham to Real Madrid, we were in the market for another star player and the buck toothed Brazilian fitted the bill. A brilliant footballer with that touch of something else about him it looked like he would become the first Brazilian to wear United’s red but Peter Kenyon had other ideas.
There are numerous versions of how the deal didn’t come to fruition and this one from Jethro Soutar, biographer of Ronaldinho will make you seethe!
United had agreed a fee of £20m with £2m in add ons after Kenyon negotiated a deal in Lyon out biding Sandro Rosell of Barcelona who would not go beyond £18.3m and official confirmation of the bid would be sent to PSG when Kenyon returned to Manchester. But when Kenyon caught wind that Barca would not bid more than that he cheekily faxed over an offer of £19m.
PSG chief Francis Graille was incensed accusing United and Kenyon of breaking their side of the agreement and the deal was off. Kenyon quickly tried to make ammends by saying the £20m deal was fine but Graille had called Rosell and accepted their £18.3m bid. Graille felt it was a matter of principle and that Barca had acted more honourably throughout the whole episode starting with a bid of £10.8m much higher than United’s initial bid.
The whole episode ruined Sir Alex’s relationship with Kenyon and Kenyon left the club 2 months later to take a position with Chelsea. Ronaldinho would go on to return Barca to the top of the footballing pile winning the league twice with Barca as well as the Champions League whilst the first Brazilian to pull on a United kit ended up being Kleberson… moving swiftly on it wasn’t all doom and gloom though, that summer we signed a spotty Portuguese teenager from Sporting Lisbon for a total fee of £12.4m. You might of heard of him Cristiano Ronaldo, I was told he went on to do big things at the club.
There are a load of other players that could have made this list Paulo Di Canio, Patrick Kluivert, Matt Le Tissier, John Obi Mikel and even Marcel Desailly recently came out saying that he agreed a pre contract with United only to end up at Stamford Bridge. All in all it’s quite a list isn’t it but even more remarkably is that despite missing out on these names some of the biggest to have played the game we have done brilliantly. Just adds weight to the claim no player is bigger than the club Manchester United!