Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has revealed which three clubs he could have joined after he handed in a transfer request at Old Trafford in 2010.
The striker is United's top goalscorer of all time with 253 strikes, but his time with the Premier League giants was not always smooth sailing.
About a decade ago, Rooney attempted to force a move away from the Red Devils after a fallout with Sir Alex Ferguson, but ultimately ended up staying with the club he joined in 2004.
The Englishman has now revealed that Chelsea, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid were all options for him, and claimed that Los Blancos was probably his most realistic next destination.
"I think it was well-documented that Chelsea and (Jose) Mourinho wanted to sign me," he said on the UTD Podcast.
"There was Real Madrid, Barcelona, and the Man City thing keeps cropping up, but there was never the option for me to go there. Although there were rumours on that as well, but the other three, really, were more realistic options.
"In my head, at the time, in that two-day period, I was ready to go and play in Spain. Ideally, I would have liked to have gone to Barcelona, but it was looking more likely to be Real Madrid than Barcelona. Chelsea were always there as well.
"After a couple of days, I spoke to David Gill again and when there were those protests at my house, I'd actually already agreed to sign the new contract by that time.
"I was thinking 'Jesus', it was three o'clock in the morning and I didn't fancy going out to calm down 20 or 30 lads with their hoods up!"
Rooney won 16 pieces of silverware in the 13 years he spent at United, including five Premier League titles and the UEFA Champions League trophy.
