Rio Ferdinand once begged Luka Modric to join Manchester United. But the Red Devils instead chose to sign Shinji Kagawa, who became an Old Trafford flop.
Modric first moved to English football in 2008 to sign for Tottenham. After over 150 appearances for Spurs, he was set to leave in the summer of 2012.
Ferdinand wanted him at United and felt he had convinced him to make that move. Modric instead signed for Real Madrid, while Sir Alex Ferguson completed a £17million deal for Kagawa.
Modric has since won five Champions Leagues, three La Liga titles, the Ballon d’Or and the World Cup Golden Ball in 2018, during an illustrious career for both club and country. Kagawa, meanwhile, played just 57 times for United before leaving in 2014 to rejoin Dortmund.
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Ferdinand reminisced over the failed pursuit of Modric on his YouTube channel Vibe with Five. He has revealed that he spoke to Ferguson and chief executive David Gill but a deal had already been agreed with Dortmund for Kagawa.
Ferdinand said: “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?’
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“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.”
Modric is still going strong at the age of 37. He has appeared in 19 of Real’s 20 La Liga matches so far this season.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old Kagawa recently rejoined boyhood club Cerezo Osaka on a free transfer. He has had spells in Turkey, Spain, Greece and Belgium since leaving Dortmund for a second time in 2019.
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