Ronaldinho and and eight players who almost joined Man Utd

FT Desk

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:54 CDT
• 7 min read

Manchester United have had some of the world's best players in their ranks over the years.

From George Best, to Roy Keane, to Wayne Rooney, to Cristiano Ronaldo, the Old Trafford faithful have been spoiled with the superstars in front of their eyes.

As they are one of the biggest clubs in the world and have been historically successful, they have also been linked with a number of world-class players only for potential deals to fall through for a particular reason.

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Football Transfers looks at eight stars who could have signed for Man Utd.

Alan Shearer

Having won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, Alan Shearer would be courted by both Man Utd and his beloved Newcastle.

The Red Devils were twice knocked back by Shearer, once in 1992 when he joined Blackburn and four years later when he joined Newcastle.

Former Man Utd chairman Martin Edwards opened up on the failed deal, saying it was Blackburn chairman Jack Walker who ultimately stopped the transfer.

"Shearer had been to Alex Ferguson's house, spoke to him and assured him he wanted to come. The problem, I think, was with the chairman of Blackburn, Jack Walker, who was not a great fan of Manchester United, (we were) local rivals, both Lancashire clubs.

"He did not want Alan Shearer to come to Manchester United. Shearer was quite close to Walker, who was like a father figure to him, and I don't think Alan wanted to upset him by coming to United."

Sir Alex Ferguson would claim that Shearer also asked for too much money.

Paul Gascoigne

Man Utd legend Ferguson has continually been asked which player he most regrets missing out on, and one name is always his answer - Paul Gascoigne.

Gazza is recognised as being a generational talent, and a talent that should have earned much more success as in England he only has one FA Cup winner's medal to his name.

Speaking on Gazza, Ferguson told Sport Bible:

"Gascoigne, without question. I think he was the best English player since Bobby Charlton. I think he was a fantastic player.

"Unfortunately, we didn't get him and I think, looking back now, he made a big mistake. He recognised it himself years later.

"But we had Geordies in the camp. We had Bobby Charlton, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, even Gary Pallister from Middlesbrough.

"We had people there who would have taken care of him, particularly Bryan Robson who is fantastic with players."

Gabriel Batistuta

Ferguson loved Gabriel Batistuta and the Argentine striker showed exactly why when Fiorentina pitched up at Old Trafford on Champions League duty in March 2000.

He scored an absolute scorcher from well outside the box, one of the best goals by a European opponent at the Theatre of Dreams.

Prior to the turn of the millennium, Bati-gol was constantly linked with United but he stayed loyal to the Florence outfit, with the figures quoted regarding his signing just a little bit out of what United thought feasible.

The player himself, though, said he would've got bored moving to a big club like Real Madrid or Manchester United.

"I never enjoyed being the star-man because as soon as you become the focal point of the team, you assume an extra burden of responsibility.

"I received many offers namely from Real Madrid, Manchester United and Milan, but I preferred the tranquillity of playing for Fiorentina.

"If I had gone to Madrid, I would have scored more than 200 goals, but I knew I would have got bored. The same thing would have happened to me at Milan. Although I have never won a major trophy, I consider myself a winner because I helped Fiorentina to compete with the big boys."

Zinedine Zidane

United looked at Zinedine Zidane before he moved to Juventus, when he was still playing in French Ligue 1 with Bordeaux.

The problem is, the Old Trafford club already had a mercurial French talent at the club at the time.

In the mid-1990s, Eric Cantona was synonymous with Manchester United and was a key component in Ferguson first hugely successful United team.

Both first-team coach Eric Harrison and chief scout Les Kershaw had glowing recommendations of the future World Cup winner and Real Madrid superstar, and even Cantona himself thought that the club should sign Zidane, but Ferguson showed loyalty to Cantona, feeling that both players were too similar in terms of style and position to accommodate in the same squad.

Zidane to Old Trafford could still end up happening though, with Zizou amongst the leading candidates listed as potential replacements for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when the Norwegian's time at United comes to an end.

Ronaldo

Another player who scored spectacularly for the opposition at Old Trafford in the Champions League was Ronaldo.

His hat-trick for Real Madrid in April 2003, culminating in a fabulous 25-yarder which he lashed beyond Fabien Barthez, ended Manchester United's Champions League charge for that season, with Utd winning 4-3 on the night but toppling out of the competition 6-5 on aggregate.

The Brazilian's performance at Old Trafford that night was so mesmerising that even the home supporters applauded as his third goal went in, realising they were witnessing a true football great perform first-hand.

United were actually offered the chance to buy Ronaldo only seven years earlier with PSV

wanting £20 million (a huge amount of money at the time) for their prize asset.

Barcelona were willing to cough up and the decision was vindicated as Ronaldo scored 47 goals in his first season at the Nou Camp and he, of course, went on to become one of the greatest players of all time.

Ronaldinho

Ronaldo's international team-mate Ronaldinho was linked with a switch to Old Trafford multiple times during his spell at Paris Saint-Germain, who weren't at that time the massively cash-rich club that they are now.

In the summer of 2003, there was a bit of the changing of the guard at Old Trafford. David Beckham's two goals from the bench in that same game that yielded Ronaldo's hat-trick was enough to convince the Real Madrid hierarchy to fork out for the future England captain.

Ronaldinho was linked with a switch to the Red Devils that summer but in the end it was Barcelona who once again pipped United to the signing of the mercurial Brazilian.

A €30 million switch to the Camp Nou was sealed and it was the catalyst for an unprecedented spell of success for the Catalan giants, with Ronaldinho the brightest light of their first Champions League-winning team.

All was not lost for United, though, that summer saw them sign Ronaldo – the precociously talented young teenager from Sporting Lisbon. Once more that was a story that would end with glory, including a Champions League winners' medal.

Toni Kroos

David Moyes had made Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos a primary transfer target for the summer of 2014.

According to the player himself, a deal to sign for Man Utd had basically been agreed, only to be scuppered by Moyes facing the sack.

Louis van Gaal was subsequently appointed, and the Dutchman didn't fancy a move for Kroos, who would win the World Cup that summer.

“David Moyes had come to see me and the contract had basically been done," Kroos told The Athletic.

“But then Moyes was fired and Louis van Gaal came in, which complicated matters.

“Louis wanted time to build his own project. I didn’t hear anything from United for a while and started having doubts.

“Then the World Cup started and Carlo Ancelotti [Real Madrid coach] called. And that was it.”

Kroos has gone on to win multiple titles with Real Madrid including three Champions League trophies.

Paulo Dybala

In the final days of the 2019 summer transfer window, negotiations began between Manchester United and Juventus over the possible transfer of Paulo Dybala.

Reports at the time suggested that Romelu Lukaku may have been involved in the deal in some kind of swap, but no deal for Dybala or the Belgian materialised.

Lukaku would eventually move to Italy with Inter, but Dybala stayed put and Man Utd were forced into looking at other targets.

Dybala himself has confirmed the approach from Man Utd, telling CNN:

"It was more or less last year at this point [in 2019] when Juventus didn't want to count on me, didn't want me to continue playing here.

"That's when I was contacted and there were some clubs that were interested in me. Among those were Manchester United and Tottenham. I think for a long time there were conversations, then Paris Saint-Germain also appeared.

"I did not speak directly to any of them, but there were conversations with the clubs. However, my intention at the time was to stay."