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Retired Portugal and FC Barcelona star Deco revealed that he stopped short of joining Manchester United back in 2004.
In an interview with FourFourTwo, Deco revealed that Man United was one of the potential destinations that he could have joined as he looked to depart Porto after winning the UEFA Champions League with the Portuguese club.
“The main offers were from Chelsea and Bayern Munich” Deco explained before admitting: “There was an enquiry from Manchester United, but it wasn’t the right time for me.”
Still, it wasn’t only poor timing that dissuaded Deco from joining United. The playmaker admitted that it was FC Barcelona that was always his destination of choice.
Deco added that he was determined to join Barca even though the Catalan club had not presented the best offer to Porto. Still, the Porto president agreed to allow him to join the Spanish giants, with Deco admitting that playing for Barca was a childhood dream.
He also revealed that he had wanted to move to Barca the previous season, however, Porto refused to allow him to depart. As Deco admitted, this turned out to be for the best, with Deco and Porto going on to win that season’s Champions League.
While a landmark achievement, the Portugal international’s career highlights didn’t end there.
Ultimately, Deco’s decision to join Barcelona, as well as the timing of his move, was immaculate, with the player going on to win two back-to-back La Liga titles as well as the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League.
He remained at Barca for four years before departing for Chelsea, where he played a pivotal role in the club’s FA Cup victories in 2009 and 2010 as well as their 2009/10 Premier League title triumph.
For United, being rejected by sought-after players in favour of other clubs that appear to get ahead in the transfer race has become an all-too-familiar position for the club.
While it may have been Deco two decades ago, modern examples of United’s failure to act in the transfer market include Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland.
Former Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward admitted that the Bellingham deal fell through because United would not match Borussia Dortmund’s “minutes” guarantee for the English midfielder. As for Haaland, United gave up on their pursuit of the striker the second time around when it appeared as if he was bound to join Manchester City.
With INEOS now in the picture and several structural changes underway, the United fanbase will hope that the club will be on the winning side of negotiations more often than not going forward, with stories of failure involving the likes of Deco remaining in the past.
