The Thiago and Hazard gaffes annoy me to this day. Feck Moyes and his dithering, wrinkly, boring, dour, useless face. Also, SAF's penny-pinching was a problem in his latter years, and has cost the club a lot since he retired. Had we got Hazard we wouldn't have had to spend as much fixing our attack as we've had to do. His fee was an absolute steal, even with the agent fee included.
10 Times United deals have been hijacked
- Thread starter flappyjay
- Start date
Your argument is the same as to why the article in the OP is wrong, it can't be a hijacking if you don't get past what is officially the first step of any transfer and that's agreeing terms with the selling club
Yes terms are unofficially agreed with players before a fee is agreed all the time but thats all moot if that fee is never agreed so in answer to your statement at the end no we wouldn't be hijacking Salah from Liverpool at all if we signed him likewise if someone else came in and signed Morata
In reflection I don't think even Ramsey was a hijacking as we never agreed anything with him he just chose to pick Arsenal ahead of us in what was an open market
Missed out on a few - but there's only perhaps Hazard that I regret.
The others were / are basically whores. Can't blame them, everyone needs to eat, and they just went somewhere else for more money. Still whores, though.
Give me someone who actually wants to play for us, for the shirt, for this club, for the fans, not for the pay cheque.
And yes...Agree London / Munich / Barcelona is easier / nicer to live than Manchester.
The others were / are basically whores. Can't blame them, everyone needs to eat, and they just went somewhere else for more money. Still whores, though.
Give me someone who actually wants to play for us, for the shirt, for this club, for the fans, not for the pay cheque.
And yes...Agree London / Munich / Barcelona is easier / nicer to live than Manchester.
Couldn't be more correct!
Essien, Bale (Spurs)http://www.squawka.com/news/10-times-man-utd-have-seen-transfer-deals-hijacked-since-2000/959387
I thought that maybe those who got tired of the Morata saga can come relief themselves with some of our transfer feck ups. I think for most the major heartbreak was the Ronaldinho deal. The hazard deal was disappointing at the time not heart breaking but you have to think that if we had him we would be in a better position right now. I also didn't know that we tried to sign Ballack but turned us down because he thought he would win ucl with Chelsea
10 times Man Utd have seen transfer deals hijacked since 2000
Manchester United have already secured one signing this summer and are close to getting a few more.
They’re likely to get them, too. One year into José Mourinho’s reign Manchester United are a sleek transfer machine. They identify the players they want, and go get them.They may miss out on a player, Antoine Griezmann chose not to turn his back on Atlético Madrid in their hour of need, but they are unlikely to lose out on them to another club.Even very recently, this wasn’t always the case. Manchester United have a long history of seeing their transfer deals get hijacked by more decisive clubs.
Remember the 80’s? Paul Gascoigne was the hottest prospect in English football and Manchester United had all but agreed to sign him, until Spurs bought his parents a house and, ever the loyal son, Gazza signed for them instead. A move he has since regretted.
And who could forget United’s pursuit of Alan Shearer in the 90’s, where Newcastle came in with a world record bid and the chance to play hometown hero for his boyhood club, beating the Red Devils to the punch.
Things didn’t get much better after the turn of the century, either. In fact they got worse. Here are 10 of the biggest Manchester United transfers that got hijacked by other clubs since the year 2000:
Ronaldinho
Year: 2003
Selling club: PSG
Hijacker: Barcelona
Fee: €30m
The transfer that shaped football as we know it today. United were looking so likely to get Ronaldinho they even signed Kleberson just to keep him company. But Barcelona and their Brazilian contacts came in and secured the player’s heart and United were left to look on enviously as Ronaldinho took the Blaugrana to the top of world football.
Quote: “Yes, I could have played for another club, but I went to Barcelona because of my friendship with Sandro Rosell. I could have played for Manchester United.”
Arjen Robben
Year: 2004
Selling club: PSV
Hijacker: Chelsea
Fee: £12.1m
United are known for their flying wingers and in 2004 it seems Sir Alex Ferguson had identified his next great one, and true David Beckham replacement, in Arjen Robben. But United wasted time haggling over a fee and Chelsea came in and blew them away, securing the dynamic Dutchman.
Quote: “My meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson went very well,” says Robben, “and I was ready to sign. But I was convinced by Ranieri and Kenyon – they told me the whole Chelsea story and it appealed to me.”
John Obi Mikel
Year: 2006
Selling club: Lyn
Hijacker: Chelsea
Fee: £12m
Manchester United actually signed John Obi Mikel in 2005. He even had a press conference in the shirt, big smiles and everything. Then later he vanished, whisked away to London by his agent John Shittu. Mikel then claimed he never wanted to sign for United and instead wanted to play for Chelsea.
FIFA dismissed United’s official complaint of untoward behaviour (which, in hindsight, is quite telling) and the player signed for Chelsea. There he won an awful lot of trophies – though José Mourinho turned what was the next great African playmaker into a dull-as-dishwater defensive midfielder. Shame.
Quote: “A number of clubs wanted to sign Mikel and I showed all the faxes to him. He didn’t want to see them, because his mind was set on Manchester United. He was very happy when the deal was done and he wanted to go to United.”
Michael Ballack
Year: 2006
Selling club: Bayern Munich
Hijacker: Chelsea
Fee: Free
Manchester United had been linked with Michael Ballack for years, and in 2006 with his contract running down it seems they were finally going to get their man and Ferguson would have his new midfield general. Chelsea came in wagging their finger like Dennis Nedry and one again gazumped the Red Devils to a player, this one an absolute titan.
Quote: “Manchester United] came before Chelsea, but I didn’t have discussions with Sir Alex Ferguson. At the time United were not really good in the Champions League – they had gone out in the first round that year. But Chelsea were growing really quickly. I wanted to be a part of this.”
Aaron Ramsey
Year: 2008
Selling club: Cardiff
Hijacker: Arsenal
Fee: £4.8m
United had earmarked Aaron Ramsey as the possible future star of their midfield and had a bid accepted for him. However when he came to Carrington, Sir Alex was on holiday and club captain Gary Neville showed him around. Meanwhile Arsene Wenger took the time to greet him personally. Ramsey felt more catered to by Arsenal and signed there.
Quote: “[Arsene Wenger] did a lot to try and get me to this club. As a 17-year-old, flying out on a private jet to his hotel (in Switzerland for Euro 2008) was surreal but I think I made the right decision. I just felt a bit more wanted by Arsenal and by the boss.”
Eden Hazard
Year: 2012
Selling club: Lille
Hijacker: Chelsea
Fee: £32m
As Manchester United’s ceaseless dominance was beginning to ebb away again, the transfer hijackings returned! The Red Devils wanted Eden Hazard to help keep the good times a-rollin’ but he opted to sign for the European Champions instead. Since then Hazard has United beat 2-1 on Premier League titles.
Quote: “There was a struggle between Chelsea and United, but according to me Chelsea has the best project. I was in advanced contact with both clubs and I spoke to both coaches.”
Lucas
Year: 2012
Selling club: Sao Paulo
Hijacker: PSG
Fee: €45m
After missing out on Hazard, United went after Brazilian sensation Lucas. They were in pole position before haggling over the fee allowed PSG to sweep in ahead of them and secure their man. Sir Alex Ferguson played the frustrated man, bemoaning the rise of transfer fees, frustrated at missing out two wingers in one window.
Quote: “I was very close to joining Manchester United,” Moura says. “It nearly happened but, at the last minute, Leonardo called me and spoke to me and my parents.”
Thiago
Year: 2013
Selling club: Barcelona
Hijacker: Bayern Munich
Fee: €25m
When Barcelona inexplicably decided they wanted to sell the future of their midfield, United were at the head of the queue. David Moyes had an open goal and still managed to whiff it wide and snap his cruciates in the process. While he was debating whether or not to sign the future best central midfielder in the world, Bayern Munich moved in, Pep Guardiola smiled at Thiago, and it was all over.
Quote: “Yes [he could have signed for United], but the real possibility was Bayern. [Because of Guardiola?] Yes, probably, but I can’t change the past and I prefer to focus on now. You learn something new every day with Pep, a magnificent coach who transmits real passion.”
Pedro
Year: 2015
Selling club: Barcelona
Hijacker: Chelsea
Fee: £21.4m
Louis van Gaal needed goals and pace out wide, he needed a traditional Van Gaal style winger. Fortunately Barcelona were selling Pedro, who fit the mould exactly. United were moving for him, but moving too slowly. Chelsea sped ahead of them and got the deal done in a handful of days, leaving Van Gaal without a player who could have transformed his attack in 2015/16.
Quote: “I had offers from other English clubs – Manchester United, City and Chelsea, who were the club that more rapidly resolved my transfer and the one that showed more interest in me.”
Renato Sanches
Year: 2016
Selling club: Benfica
Hijacker: Bayern Munich
Fee: €35m+€45m
Hailed the next great midfield general, Renato Sanches had an incredible season in 2015/16 that had all the major clubs scrambling for his services. United were in pole position but manager José Mourinho wasn’t appointed in time to push the deal through and Bayern dropped a mountain of cash in Benfica’s lap and secured the player (who went on to be Portugal’s most exciting player as they won Euro 2016).
Quote: “I arrived late. I signed in May, we started talking a week before, but completely out of the process. If I had arrived earlier, I’d fight for him.”
Yeah but would we push through Ronaldo deal than?
Well it was dampened by a certain Ronaldo and a golden era without Ronaldinho..
Ballack, you muppet. Enjoy your FA Cups.
Maybe. Maybe not. Doesn't make a difference to me. There is no way it could be a good thing Ronaldinho didn't play for us.
I agree that we were fortunate (in the long run, once Ronaldo had developed into a World Class player) that we were not left lacking a WC attacking talent
in the team for too long after not getting Dinho.
Also, personally, if given a straight choice between the two I would have rather Ronaldinho joined us anyway. I don't think we'd have been worse off as a team.
Fergie's dilly-dallying and refusal to pay up due to 'no value in market' cost us many top players. But he more than made it up with his relentless winning streak.
Hazard and Thiago hurt me the most by far.
How could you post this now, with the muppets already so wound up? Shit stirrer
That's what I was going for everyone is anxious over the Morata deal so I decided to throw some petrol into the fire
I only really cared about the Hazard and Thiago feck-ups. The fee for Hazard was relatively low considering his talent. Fergie stuck to his guns over not paying a large agent fee (€5m?) and it has cost us. Post-SAF, we're the club that pays the most to agents out of anyone
Ronadinho and Robben were the ones that hurt.
The Hazard one hurts the most. We knew he was destined for big things.
Hazard hasn't got the mentality to be a top top player
Admitted as much himself a year or two ago
Admitted as much himself a year or two ago
That is a painful post
I remember being devastated when Barca beat us to Ronaldinho.
For a while I was also convinced Chelsea/ Kenyon had it in for us and deliberately targeted and signed players we were focusing on
I remember being devastated when Barca beat us to Ronaldinho.
For a while I was also convinced Chelsea/ Kenyon had it in for us and deliberately targeted and signed players we were focusing on
Agreed a 25M fee, then faxed 22.5M or something ridiculous like that.
My favourite is Harry Kewell. He chose Liverpool over us, as they were on the up and we were declining! Hahahahaaha
Hence why I wrote "Also, SAF's penny-pinching was a problem in his latter years, and has cost the club a lot since he retired. Had we got Hazard we wouldn't have had to spend as much fixing our attack as we've had to do. His fee was an absolute steal, even with the agent fee included."
I think Vidal was close to signing for us at one point. Would have been a brilliant addition to United.
Essien was not hijacked, it did not go ahead because of work permit issues. He could even have joined Antwerp then us later
Haha funnyhow that worked out eh. - A blessing in disgiuse. We went and got Carrick instead and won 3 titles in a row and a CL final...against Balacks Chelsea!
Sort of a punishment - They paid us around 12m gbp for him without him ever playing a game. That was big money back then. We basically got 12m out of nothing.
Only because he was unwanted at Chelsea. Robben for all his early career selfishness has always been a pretty loyal guy
It has zero to do with agents fees. We lost out to Chelsea simply because they won the champions league.
Bslkack was a high jacking. We 'auditioned' for his signature at Stamford Bridge and lost 3-1/3-0 and the league title on the same day. That convinced him to join Chelsea.
Kenyon killed it alright. Tried to rail road PSG by agreeing a higher fee then faxing a lowed one.Same stunt he pulled with PSV and Robben. PSG got rightly pissed and decided to give us when. When Fergie the got involved he started offering better fees and simply thought matching Barca's offer would get us the player. PSG instead insisted we pay up to 5 million more or forget it. What finished us off was Ronaldinho was quite happy playing for us or Barcelona, so we lost out.
Chelsea appear to beat us in the transfer market alot.
Please dont
As talented as Hazard is, he is by all accounts a little bitch.
Don't like that type of player at Manchester United.
Don't like that type of player at Manchester United.
Most of those are not really "hi-jackings" they are just multiple clubs going for the same player, and the player with his agent decided which deal they liked better.
Happens all the time, even happens the other way around where our deal is better than what other clubs are offering.
The Thiago one is especially BS, since Bayern were actually linked to him all along, most United fans just chose to ignore those links and the press knew the click bait value of focusing on the United link.
Happens all the time, even happens the other way around where our deal is better than what other clubs are offering.
The Thiago one is especially BS, since Bayern were actually linked to him all along, most United fans just chose to ignore those links and the press knew the click bait value of focusing on the United link.
And it annoyed me the way he said he was definately going to a Manchester club, then joined the club who finished 6th and were managed by Di Matteo. Fair play though, long term it turned out the best choice as he has won mutliple titles etc
Or we could have had them both
Perhaps! I doubt he would have went out on a limb for the youngster had he just spent 25 mill on the Brazilian tho!
We'll never know!
I seem to recall that, yes.
Fergie wanted him, afaik. But the player himself (and his agent) has stated quite clearly that he was set on following Pep. So, Dave dithering or Giggs not fancying him, or whatever it was, seems a bit beside the point. Don't think we had much chance of signing him in the first place.
Typically enough, half of these examples aren't "hijackings" in any meaningful sense.
I don't think the Chelsea fans are too happy with him. As good as he is, there's always something with him, be it the cowardice, the lack of grit, or the come hither eyes made to more prestigious clubs.
This is just silly coming from a United fan. Your players get paid a metric ton of money. There's no way you can play the 'poor us they won't join us cause were poor' card.