Two Superstars Man Utd ’99 Per Cent’ Signed Before Sir Alex Ferguson Retired

Former left back Patrice Evra has revealed a conversation he had with soccer’s greatest manager.

Fergie walked away a 13-time Premier League champion. | Tom Jenkins/Getty Images

Manchester United were “99 per cent” about to sign both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the summer of 2013, former left back Patrice Evra says he was personally told by Sir Alex Ferguson.

The reason United didn’t secure a reunion with Ronaldo—a deal was eventually done eight years later—or stop Bale joining Real Madrid is because Ferguson retired.

Evra has revealed to The Athletic that the legendary Scot stepping down came as a huge shock because it was only “one week before” that he was hearing from the man himself about which players were coming into the club ahead of the 2013–14 campaign.

“I went to Ferguson’s office, and he said, ‘Patrice, 99 per cent, Cristiano Ronaldo is coming and I’m going to bring Gareth Bale too. And those people who think I’m going to retire? I’m going to retire when I’m maybe 100-years-old.’ I couldn’t understand [the retirement]. It was a big shock.”

The planned signings of Ronaldo and Bale didn’t survive a double change of manager and chief executive, with David Gill also leaving United that summer. Ed Woodward came into the equivalent of the latter role and infamously struggled to get anything over the line in the early months.

Had Ronaldo, sold to Real Madrid in a world-record transfer in 2009, returned to Manchester at that time, it would have meant leaving the Santiago Bernabéu before his career peaked. Ronaldo’s drive and goals were later at the heart of Los Blancos pulling off a Champions League three-peat: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, having also been instrumental in La Décima in 2013–14.

Bale, who recently confirmed 2013 interest from United—and a bigger transfer fee offered—but insisted he always wanted to go Real Madrid, played his part in those European triumphs too.

Both players quickly helped Real Madrid win the Champions League. | Marc Atkins/Mark Leech/Getty Images

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Ronaldo, Bale Transfer Could Have Changed Soccer History

The impact of Ronaldo leaving Real Madrid in 2013 and Bale never joining would have been stark, dulling the Spanish giants on the eve of what was to become their most dominant period in the European Cup since the late 1950s.

But there would have been considerable consequence for Manchester United as well. Ferguson’s team by 2013 was an ageing one, but what remained was still a strong side. There was no major exodus when the manager left. And while Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić and Evra himself were nearing the end, the planned rejuvenation likely would have kept things going.

A 27-year-old Wayne Rooney, infamously frustrated enough when Ronaldo left to question the club’s ambition and ask for a transfer, might have been reinvigorated.

United had an improving young goalkeeper in David de Gea. Michael Carrick, although 32, had just had the best season of his career. The fate of Ferguson signing Shinji Kagawa, who suffered injuries in his first season but scored a Premier League hat trick towards the end of that campaign, might also have been different in a more stable environment.

Man Utd had a strong but ageing team in need of rejuvenation. | CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images

United fell from Premier League champions to seventh in the space of a year because a team ripe for fresh blood was barely added to—Marouane Fellaini’s capture late in the summer window was symbolic of the lack of efficiency and direction in the transfer market that became routine.

A new manager, new club chief and a squad hurtling towards unavoidable rebuild all at once was a recipe for disaster. Any one of those issues might have been manageable in isolation.

But with signings like Ronaldo and Bale, 28 and 24 at the time, integrated under arguably the greatest manager of all time, the transition might have been more gradual and far smoother.

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