Players that United may have signed but didn’t

Shilton. He wanted to come but the board didn't want to pay his wage demands. Alan Hudson. We were crying out for a creative midfielder but he went to Stoke instead. Colin Todd. Same as Hudson but went to Derby.
 
Ronaldinho is my ultimate one

I was still in school, had seen him in the World Cup and thought he was incredible. Couldn't believe it when we bid for him. Had loads of United supporting mates and we thought he was coming so we had kick abouts and pretended to be him. Teletext 10+ times per day to see if he'd signed yet. Gutted when it broke down. And then had to see him be the best player in the World for a few years.
That transfer saga was why I joined Redcafe.
 
For me it was Greizman. We went through a number of windows where it looked like we would get him but he was just playing us.

Lucas Moura, Nico Gaitan, Ronaldinho, Sneijder and Gareth Bale were players I was desperado to sign. The joys of being a kid and taking my main football news and knowledge from TeamTalk. (The website is garbage now).
 
I like the thought of a United X1 so here is mine pre 1992:

1. Peter Shilton/Frank Swift
2. Eric Caldow/Dave Nish
3. Mick Mills/Paul Reaney
4. Tony Currie
5. Roy McFarlane/Colin Todd
6. Mike England/Terry Butcher
7. Liam Brady
8. Gerry Francis/Alan Ball
9. David Hurst/Malcolm MacDonald/Allan Clarke/Gary Lineker
10. Paul Gascoigne
11. Dave Thomas/Leighton James
 
Gascoigne - Deal was all but done the Spurs came in offering his parents a new house and his sister a sunbed or somthing
Butcher
Lineker
Hirst
Harford - Fergie confirmed it was a mistake "not showing enough resolve to push the deal through". He thought the target man would make a difference and got us over the line in the Championship race in 1992
Adams
Collymore - But Forest boss Frank Clark blanked Fergie's calls. He quickly moved for Cole instead
Anderton - Fergie wanted him in 1995 to replace Kanchelskis but player decided to stay at Spurs even signing a new contract
Shearer (twice)
Zidane
Celio Silva - Couldnt get a work permit.
Desailly - The board wouldnt break the wage ceiling for him. Chelsea did cough up and got him a year later in 1998
Babbel - Again high wage demands.
Henchoz - Chose instead to work with former boss Roy Hodgson at Blackburn
B.Laudrup
Bergkamp - Fergie wanted him to replace Cantona but received short shrift from Arsenal Chairman David Dein
Ortega - On a One Year Loan. Fergie seriously looked at bringing him in in December 1997 but he and the borad balked at the £1m loan fee
Kluivert
S.Campbell - Fergie wanted him but wasnt prepared to meet the £15m price tag slapped on him by Spurs who had a year and a half left on his contract
Di Canio
Ronaldinho
Del Piero - The player recently confirmed this
Kroos
Bellingham
Halaand
 
Paul McStay was rumored to be a target for a season or two but he was never going to leave Parkheed.
 
Ronaldinho, R9 and Batistuta were apparently right up for coming to United, we just couldn’t get the deals done. Never really felt zidane fancied coming.
 
With Collymore it was between him and Andy Cole. Stan must have thought he was favourite because he bought his kid a United top when he came to OT with Forest. We made the right choice.
 
We picked Barthez over Buffon and Toldo. Let that sink in.

TBF in the year 2000 Barthez was considered one of the top keepers in Europe. A world cup and euro champion.

Also Buffon was difficult to prize away from Italy. He was always destined to go to one of the big Italian clubs.