Rio Ferdinand as soon as begged Luka Modric to affix . However the Purple Devils as an alternative selected to signal Shinji Kagawa, who turned an Previous Trafford flop.
Modric first moved to English soccer in 2008 to signal for Tottenham. After over 150 appearances for Spurs, he was set to go away in the summertime of 2012.
Ferdinand wished him at United and felt he had satisfied him to make that transfer. Modric as an alternative signed for Actual Madrid, whereas Sir Alex Ferguson accomplished a £17million deal for Kagawa.
Modric has since gained 5 Champions Leagues, three La Liga titles, the Ballon d'Or and the World Cup Golden Ball in 2018, throughout an illustrious profession for each membership and nation. Kagawa, in the meantime, performed simply 57 instances for United earlier than leaving in 2014 to rejoin Dortmund.
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Ferdinand reminisced over the failed pursuit of Modric on his YouTube channel . He has revealed that he spoke to Ferguson and chief govt David Gill however a deal had already been agreed with Dortmund for Kagawa.
Ferdinand stated: "Any participant that was obtainable or was arising I used to suppose that I might someway get into them. Even Thiago Alcantara at Liverpool, I spoke to him earlier than he left Barcelona to go to Bayern Munich and that nearly occurred however we signed [Marouane] Fellaini as an alternative.
"However Modric, I bear in mind chatting with him, I stated "Are you leaving [Tottenham]?" and he stated, 'Yeah, I believe I’m going to go' however he wasn’t positive on the time the place he was going.
"I stated, 'Pay attention, you’ve obtained to come back to United, man' and he stated, 'Yeah, pay attention, I need to be the primary Croatian to play for Man United, I need to be that man, can we make it occur?'
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"However it didn’t occur. I spoke to David Gill and the supervisor [Sir Alex] on the time had already agreed with Shinji Kagawa I believe it was – I believe that was the yr, I’m positive it was. Or they already had irons within the fireplace with one other participant they usually did that deal after which Modric went to Madrid and the remainder is historical past."
Modric remains to be going sturdy on the age of 37. He has appeared in 19 of Actual's 20 La Liga matches up to now this season.
In the meantime, 33-year-old Kagawa lately rejoined boyhood membership Cerezo Osaka on a free switch. He has had spells in Turkey, Spain, Greece and Belgium since leaving Dortmund for a second time in 2019.
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