One Argentine image about signed for Manchester United, but things turned out somewhat different.
In his four years as a top-notch striking midfielder, Juan Roman Riquelme established himself as one of the best of his creation in the 2000s.
First joining on mortgage, the Argentine guided the Yellow Submarine to the Champions League semi-finals, leading a team containing Marcos Senna, Diego Forlan and a fresh Santi Cazorla.
His German days were around at the age of just 29 after heading home to Boca Juniors in 2007, but, it could easily have gone separately for the little Argentine.
Manchester United attention is revealed by Juan Roman Riquelme
Speaking in a new interview, Riquelme revealed that he came near to joining Premier League companies Manchester United due to his move up to Argentina, with Sir Alex Ferguson himself physically talking to the Villarreal leader about the move.
Speaking to Brazilian store TyC Sports, Riquelme revealed discussions that were had following the 2006 Champions League semi-final knot against Arsenal.
" We played the semi-final with Arsenal in England and he ( Ferguson ) was at the hotel", he said.
" He spoke with the president of Villarreal and there was Daniel ( Bolotnicoff ), who is my representative. He arrived because he had purchased me that. Dani says," He wants to say hello," after the conference was over.
" He came to purchase. Therefore I say to him:' What did you tell him?' And there he answers:' The sports city, El Madrigal ( stadium ), is for sale … everything is for sale, except Riquelme.
" There I told my representative: ' Tell Ferguson that I will never forget these five minutes in my life again, but that if the president does n't want to sell me, I'll stay in Villarreal.' But, I greeted him and I went to have a partner.
Boca and I then had to travel to Germany to compete in the Audi Cup, and he attended the media event. He claimed that whenever a Manchester United player is purchased, they always want them to respond like I do." It had been real that he wanted to buy me," he added.
Otherwise, the Red Devils sold Michael Carrick to Tottenham that summertime, and the rest is history.
Copyright Notice:
Datavictory copyrights this specification. No part of this specification may be reproduced in any form or means, without the prior written consent of Datavictory.
Link:
