The Red Devils were close to bringing both midfielders to Old Trafford but preferred to sign a £17m flop instead.
Rio Ferdinand has revealed he almost convinced Luka Modric and Thiago Alcantara to move to Manchester United.
Modric took the Premier League by storm before leaving for Real Madrid in 2012. The former Tottenham star went on to become a club legend at Santiago Bernabeu, claiming five Champions League titles.
However, Ferdinand says both Modric and Thiago were close to joining Man Utd before joining Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, respectively.
Speaking on his FIVE Youtube podcast, the former Man Utd star said: “I spoke to him before he went to Real Madrid, because that’s what I used to do, I was the player agent, I was agent Rio before I retired.
“Any player that was available or was coming up I used to think that I could somehow get into them.
“Even Thiago Alcantara at Liverpool, I spoke to him before he left Barcelona to go to Bayern Munich and that almost happened but we signed [Marouane] Fellaini instead.
“But Modric, I remember speaking to him, I said, “Are you leaving [Tottenham]?” and he said, “Yeah. I think I’m going to go” but he wasn’t sure at the time where he was going.
“I said, “Listen, you’ve got to come to United, man” and he said, “Yeah. listen, I want to be the first Croatian to play for Man United. I want to be that guy, can we make it happen?”
“But it didn’t happen. I spoke to David Gill and the manager [Sir Alex] at the time had already agreed with Shinji Kagawa I think it was – I think that was the year, I’m sure it was.
“Or they already had irons in the fire with another player and they did that deal and then Modric went to Madrid and the rest is history.
“But I never imaged he’d go on to do what he’s done. What a player!”
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