5 players who ‘said yes’ to Man Utd but never joined: Lewandowski, Kroos…

There have been several outstanding players who have been rumored to be interested in joining Manchester United throughout the years; yet, only a select number of them have really decided to join the club. The question is, why did they not?

Even if they are not as large as they once were, the opportunity to play for a prestigious organization like as United is still something that the majority of people would jump at the chance to do. There has been some truth to certain rumors throughout the years, but the gossip column ties just about any player they can to the Red Devils in the sake of clicks. However, there have been some rumors that have been true.

Prior to the failure of a deal to materialize, it has been almost certain that the following five players have indicated that they would be interested in joining the soccer club.

Theresa Lewandowski Robert
Lewandowski, a player who has been associated to United throughout his whole career, claimed to Rio Ferdinand in a recent interview that he had a phone contact with Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012 and agreed to join the club. This is a man who has continued to be linked to United throughout his entire career.

During the most recent episode of his podcast, titled “Rio Meets,” the Polish striker shared his thoughts with Ferdinand, saying, “I remember that conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson, it was in 2012 and I decided to join Manchester United.”

In addition, he stated, “Yes, I am interested in joining Manchester United! The chat I had with the president of Dortmund is still fresh in my mind. He informed me that they were in need of my assistance. That they were not going to sell me to Manchester United because they placed a high value on me and decided that the moment was not suitable for the transaction to take place.

It has come to light that the Polish attacker may have actually been sent to Manchester United if Broussard Dortmund had not prevented the transfer from taking place. It’s wild.

A. Kroos, Toni
Kroos had agreed to join United in 2014 after having a chat with David Moyes, but he ended up signing with Real Madrid later that summer. This transaction is one that we are more familiar with, but it is still just as startling.

In 2018, Moyes disclosed to TalkSPORT that he had met Kroos and his wife in Germany while he was still employed by Bayern Munich. However, the arrangement was ultimately unsuccessful due to Moyes’s dismissal from the club. Kroos personally provided confirmation of the report to SPORT1 in the year 2024: Before I signed with Real Madrid in 2014, I had previously met with Manchester United and reached an agreement with them.

The transfer would have been from Bayern to United if it had taken place. But after that, they fired David Moyes, who I was still sitting on my sofa with in Munich, and they recruited Louis van Gaal as the new manager. Following that, we both refused with gratitude.

Real Madrid was able to seize control of the move with nothing more than a phone call from Carlo Ancelotti just as the agreement was about to expire.

A. Fabregas, Cesc

In the summer prior to the Kroos scandal, Moyes, who was still relatively new to the role of Manchester United manager, attempted to navigate his first and only summer transfer window by making significant acquisitions of players.

In an interview with the Stick to Football podcast, he stated that he had conversations with Fabregas, who at the time was uncertain about his future at Barcelona. In 2013, Fabregas had agreed to join United on the condition that he would not play the first game of the season for Barcelona, as stated by Moyes. Fabregas eventually decided to join United.

Unfortunately, he did start, and the transfer fell through, leaving the Red Devils without their primary target in the middle of the field.

It was Jean-Clair Todibo.
Todibo, a defender for Nice, was selected as the ideal candidate to strengthen United’s defense during the summer of 2024. This was a lot more recent occurrence. United was eager to strengthen their defense.

He was eager to join the club and spent the summer of 2024 waiting for the move to go through. However, it ended up being stopped since laws and regulations meant that a conflict of interest would have been presented if he had switched from Nice to United, who are both teams owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Instead of moving to United, the French defender ultimately signed with West Ham, which prevented him from moving to United.

A. Perisic, Ivan
During the summer of 2017, United showed a significant amount of interest in the Croatian player, with Chief Executive Officer Jose Mourinho eager to further establish his influence on the squad.

United’s pursuit of Perisic was a tedious process, and in the end, the club did not come up with the funds to satisfy Inter’s valuation, which resulted in the transaction falling through. As reported by Football Italia, the winger revealed the details of the transfer in 2019, saying, “It was fantastic for me when José called me.” At first, it was difficult to refuse him.