Ronaldo, Thomas Muller Named Among Top Transfer Failures by Sir Alex Ferguson

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he narrowly missed out on a host of elite players during his time at the helm of the Old Trafford club, including Brazilian sensation Ronaldo and Bayern Munich star Thomas Muller.

Ferguson made the claims in his upcoming book, called Leading. Ronaldo, who went on to become one of the greatest centre-forward players of all time, could have joined the club before he moved from Cruzeiro to Europe in 1994, claimed the former Red Devils boss.

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“We wanted to sign the Brazilian striker from Cruzeiro in 1994, but we could not get a work permit and he went to PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands,” Ferguson wrote, per James Andrew of the MailOnline. But the samba striker wasn’t the only player the Scot couldn’t lure to Old Trafford at a young age.

“Thomas Muller, who scored five goals for Germany in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, was a 10-year-old playing for an amateur team several miles from Munich when we first heard about him,” revealed Ferguson, per Andrew. “We had him watched and the following day he committed himself to Bayern Munich.”

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There were others cited by the former United boss too, as the Times noted, per 101 Great Goals:

Ronaldo would have been some acquisition. The Brazil international was a force of nature at the point of the attack for illustrious clubs, including PSV, Barcelona, Internazionale and Real Madrid. He was a player who United felt the full force of during his career with Los Blancos, earning a standing ovation from the Old Trafford crowd during the 2002-03 season, as he scored a hat-trick:

Despite some poor fortune with injury, Ronaldo won two World Cups with Brazil, finishing as the tournament’s top scorer as the Selecao triumphed in 2002. Aside from his knack for scoring goals, earlier in his career the Brazilian would run defenders ragged with his blistering speed and stunning close control.

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Muller may not have turned into quite the same player had he not been schooled by the Bayern Munich academy, but United’s interest reportedly remains 16 years on from when Ferguson first spotted him. According to Sport Bild (h/t Jamie Jackson of the Guardian) the Red Devils made a £60 million offer for the Bayern man last summer.

As we can see here courtesy of WhoScored.com, Muller is a thoroughbred forward and one of European football’s most dangerous front men:

There’s a chance Muller, just 26 years old, may well surpass Ronaldo and his countryman Miroslav Klose in the race to be the top goalscorer in the history of the World Cup too. Muller currently has 10, Ronaldo notched 15 in his playing days, while Klose bagged his 16th in the previous tournament as Germany plotted their way to glory.

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Still, Nooruddean Choudry of Joe.co.uk suggested that we shouldn’t take all of these claims from the former United boss too seriously:

But as the manager of English football’s biggest club, it’d be no surprise if the Red Devils were in for all of these big names. Transfers can quickly go awry at the last minute, though, and while Ferguson may have missed out on some world-class performers, during his time at Manchester United he did make some superb purchases.

Muller could yet end up at the Red Devils, with many years left in his career at the very top level, but any United supporter who was at Old Trafford for Ronaldo’s hat-trick in the previous clip will lament not landing him. The Brazilian is the kind of talent who could have helped the club dominate Europe, as well as England, during Ferguson’s tenure.