Manchester United transfer target was shot in the head after agreeing Red Devils deal

Prior to the occurrence of the tragedy, Manchester United was in the process of signing one of the most talented attacking players in South America.

During the year 2007, Salvador Cabanas was awarded the title of Paraguayan Footballer of the Year as well as South American Footballer of the Year. It was also reported that Sir Alex Ferguson was a huge fan of the powerful forward.

His dream of playing at Old Trafford was, however, dashed by a terrible attack that occurred in 2010.

At the age of just 29 years old, Cabanas was shot in the head in the restrooms of the Bar Bar nightclub in Mexico City. At the time, he was the star player for Club America. The perpetrator of the shooting was a man who claimed to be a drug dealer.

Unbelievably, he managed to survive.

“Everything is ingrained in my memory,” Cabanas recalled.

He started to insult me, and then all of a sudden he pulled out a gun. “I am JJ, the most wanted drug dealer,” he said to me while brandishing it in my direction. And because you are going to pass away, today is the last day of your life. There is no more time for you to steal from us, the Mexicans, because today is your last day.

When I asked, “Why? Because I am in need of financial assistance, I came here to work. His response was, “No, you are making an excessive amount of money, and you are going to take it to Paraguay.” Our needs are being met, and we are working for you. I was then shot by him after that.

‘JJ’, also known as Jose Jorge Balderas Garza, was a notorious figure on the streets of Mexico City who was a potential assassin for Cabanas.

An alleged connection was made between JJ and Edgar “Barbie” Valdez Villarreal, a notorious assassin who had recently taken control of Los Negros, the armed wing of the Beltran-Leyva drug trafficking cartel. JJ was allegedly connected to this assassin.

The defendant, Valdez, who is currently serving a sentence of 49 years in the United States, admitted that he had provided Balderas with shelter in one of his hideouts following the attack.

In spite of the fact that the perpetrator of the brutal attack on Cabanas was arrested and placed in prison in Mexico in the year 2020 on charges related to organised crime, he has never been brought to trial for the crime.

Both his memory and his vision in his left eye were negatively impacted by the aftermath, and the left side of his body was weakened as a result.

On the other hand, the timing could not have been worse for Cabanas, who had agreed to a move to Premier League giants United that would change his life and his career drastically.

Additionally, it eliminated his chances of participating in the World Cup in South Africa in the latter part of that year, where he was anticipated to dominate the competition.

Cabanas mentioned the following in an interview with Telefuturo: “I had signed a pre-contract agreement for a transfer to Europe for the amount of £1.3 million.” It was explained to me that Manchester United would be my final destination.

“Club America doubled my salary and gave me one flat in Acapulco and another in Cancun to try to keep me at the club.”

In the end, he decided to remain in South America and even pulled off a remarkable comeback with the club that he had played for in his hometown, Club 12 de Octubre, in the year 2012, before deciding to hang up his boots two years later.

“Considering what had happened to me, and I came back – nobody would have imagined that,” Cabanas said to reporters.

The narrative of Cabanas, despite being motivational, is not an easy read. His club was successful in gaining promotion to the second division of the Paraguayan football league.

Despite the fact that he miraculously made his way back onto the pitch after everything that had happened, his life has been a difficult struggle ever since that fateful day in 2010.

Even though he is no longer with his wife, he finds comfort in the bakery that his family owns and operates in Itaugua.

“After I got out of my Asuncion house following my separation, I came to live in my parents’ house and started helping them with the family business, which is the bakery,” he explained to reporters.

“I am going to keep moving forward,” he concluded by saying