A Manchester United legend has revealed how he and his fellow icons believed they had helped the record Premier League champions land Jude Bellingham's signature when he was first available on the market, only for him to go elsewhere.
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The England international is now considered one of the best central midfielders in the game, and is a serious contender for the 2024 Ballon d'Or award.
Before he became a Real Madrid superstar, however, the Stourbridge native was a prodigious young talent at Birmingham City in the EFL Championship.
When the time came for him to leave St. Andrews Stadium, there were a plethora of top sides who were in for the then-17-year-old, and one of them was United.
The Mancunians pulled out all the stops to secure the box-to-box midfielder's services, having former captains Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona, and legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson to meet him in a bid to convince him to make the move to Old Trafford.
According to Robson, they thought they had done enough to entice him to make the switch to Manchester, but it ultimately was not to be.
"It was really disappointing," the former England international told The Telegraph. "We were at Carrington and Sir Alex Ferguson was there a little earlier than I was, but Eric and I met him, and his mum and dad, and we were chatting away.
"It was really looking promising that he was going to be signing for Manchester United... me and Eric did a rubbish job as he signed for Borussia! We thought we had him in the bag!"
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Bellingham would go on to sign for Borussia Dortmund instead, where he spent three seasons before becoming Los Blancos' second-most expensive player ever at the beginning of this campaign when he completed a €103 million (R2 billion) move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
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