There are a number of legends who have played for both Manchester United and Real Madrid over the years. Names like David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria and Casemiro come to mind immediately. And surely there will be more to come in the future as well, with the two clubs being two of the biggest brand names in all of football.
Back when Luka Modric was at Tottenham Hotspur, it looks like he was interested in joining Manchester United and becoming the first Croatian player in the Red Devils’ history as well.
Thankfully it did not end up happening, and Modric would eventually find his way to Real Madrid instead, where he has gone on to have a stellar career.
And instead of signing the Croatian midfield maestro, it looks like Manchester United ended up bringing in Shinji Kagawa instead, who although a good player in his prime, never got close to hitting the heights of Modric. As reported by Metro, while speaking on FIVE YouTube show, Rio Ferdinand said:
"‘I spoke to him before he went to Real Madrid, because that’s what I used to do, I was the player agent, I was agent Rio before I retired.‘Any player that was available or was coming up I used to think that I could somehow get into them.‘Even Thiago Alcantara at Liverpool, I spoke to him before he left Barcelona to go to Bayern Munich and that almost happened but we signed [Marouane] Fellaini instead.‘But Modric, I remember speaking to him, I said, “Are you leaving [Tottenham]?” and he said, “Yeah, I think I’m going to go” but he wasn’t sure at the time where he was going.‘I said, “Listen, you’ve got to come to United, man” and he said, “Yeah, listen, I want to be the first Croatian to play for Man United, I want to be that guy, can we make it happen?”‘But it didn’t happen. I spoke to David Gill and the manager [Sir Alex] at the time had already agreed with Shinji Kagawa I think it was – I think that was the year, I’m sure it was.‘Or they already had irons in the fire with another player and they did that deal and then Modric went to Madrid and the rest is history.‘But I never imaged he’d go on to do what he’s done. What a player!’"
Modric was interested in Manchester United move before joining Real Madrid
During his time at Real Madrid, Modric has established himself as one of the all-time greats and gone on to win five Champions League titles with Los Blancos.
He has achieved more success with the Croatian national team than anybody could have expected as well. They reached the World Cup final in 2018 and the semi-final in 2022. It is worth remembering that they did not even qualify for the tournament back in 2010.
Modric might very well be the best midfielder of his generation and thankfully, Manchester United did not swoop in to sign him when they had the chance.
There were question marks over whether Modric was good enough for Real Madrid when he was signed. The rest is history.