These world class players almost signed for Manchester United

Manchester United have come extremely close to bringing some truly world class players to Old Trafford over the years, here are the pick of the bunch.

Those close calls. The what might have been. They linger in the memory of every club and every supporter. The signings that were inevitable but for one reason or another never materialised. Manchester United, being one of the biggest clubs in the world have had plenty of failed transfers over their illustrious history.

Especially in the last couple of decades. The players the Red Devils missed out on all went to have extremely successful careers heightening the club’s misery even more.

Here are the top five transfers who came ever so close to joining the club.

5. Alan Shearer

When Alan Shearer had just burst onto the scene at Southampton he quickly established himself as one of the most prolific strikers in the country.

Inevitably, his goalscoring prowess attracted the Red Devils’ boss at the time, Sir Alex Ferguson. The United boss was keen to land the exiting prospect, however in 1995, Shearer opted to join Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn Rovers and went onto win the Premier League title with the club.

Before Alan Shearer moved to Newcastle United, he was close to joining United once again. According to former United chairman speaking on NBC news via Sports Joe the Red Devils had ‘done the deal as far as Alan Shearer’s contract was concerned.’ However in the end Shearer decided to join his boyhood Newcastle and United were left to rue their loss.

4. Ronaldinho

The Brazilian is now regarded as the king of samba football. However back in 2003, Ronaldinho was just an emerging young talent who had burst onto the scene during the World Cup.

The Red Devils have been keeping a close eye on his progress at Paris Saint Germain and were desperate to secure his services. However in the end the lure of Barcelona was too great for Ronaldinho and the rest is history.

3. Toni Kroos

The German is one of the best midfielders in the world. He was instrumental in helping Germany lift the World Cup in 2014 and was a pivotal part of the Real Madrid side which won the Champions League three times in a row.

However that all could have been different. Back in 2013, when David Moyes had just replaced Sir Alex Ferguson, the Scotsman had a meeting with Kroos and his wife according to TalkSport via Sky Sports News. In the end however a deal never materialised and Toni Kroos ended up staying at Bayern Munich before moving to Real Madrid a year later.

2. Sergio Ramos

He is regarded as one of the best centre backs in the world and he was already a World Cup winner and two time European Championship champion when United came knocking on the door for his services in 2015.

And via Sports Joe, Ramos revealed that he came close to leaving Real Madrid but in the end he opted to stay with the Spanish giants.

1. Neymar

When Neymar first burst onto the scene, Sir Alex Ferguson was keen to wrap up a deal up for the youngster who was tipped to become the next Pele.

In the end however the Red Devils were deterred by the steep asking price from the Brazilian club and opted to sign Wilfred Zaha instead.

Years later when Neymar was almost on the move from Barcelona in 2015, the Brazilian star’s father confirmed via the Guardian that United made another approach for his services. This time Barcelona rejected the offer and Neymar moved to Paris Saint Germain two years later.

Next. This player must leave Old Trafford in the summer. dark

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