“Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed 99 percent to come back and Gareth Bale,” revealed Patrice Evra recently, during his appearance on the Obi One podcast. The left-back, who spent 8 years at Manchester United, vocally acknowledged a never-before-heard transfer possibility that Sir Alex Ferguson discussed with Evra that the iconic manager was keen to fulfill during his time at Old Trafford.

The result you ask? Of course, the former Scottish tactician failed in his quest to complete a double swoop. While it certainly would have been the blockbuster signing of the decade, it makes us wonder whether Sir Alex had experienced such major transfer failures before. The answer is yes, but who exactly? Let’s dive deeper.

Players that Sir Alex Ferguson failed to sign at Manchester United

Sergio Aguero

Considered a “We cannot replace him” type of player in Pep Guardiola’s books, Sergio Aguero had an opportunity to play for the red side of Manchester. Despite having Wayne Rooney, Sir Alex was open to bringing the Argentinian forward from Atletico Madrid. However, it was the demands of the retired striker’s agent that saw United pull the cord.

“His agent was demanding a price we were not prepared to pay,” once shared Ferguson. Unfortunately, that was one of the biggest mistakes from the Glazers as Kun Aguero scored one of the most crucial goals for City during the 2011/12 Premier League campaign, asl the same year he arrived. “Balotelli…Aguueeerrrrooooo!” Remember this commentary?

Didier Drogba

Sir Alex had set his sights on Drogba when the Ivory Coast forward was with Marseille. Of course, he had to, considering the striker netted 32 goals in 52 appearances within a season of his arrival in 2003. However, it was arch-rivals Chelsea that managed to win the bidding war of £25 million before United had even made up their mind.

Alan Shearer

Signing the greatest Premier League striker of all time surely doesn’t go down as a bad idea. But what if we tell you the player himself turned down Manchester United’s approach, not once but twice? The first rejection came in 1992 while Shearer was scoring bangers at Southampton.

Though leaving the Saints for the Red Devils was a step up, the deal failed as Ferguson and Co’s overconfidence in bringing him saw Blackburn Rovers make a steal deal instead. “I felt if they really wanted me then they would come and get me immediately,” said Alan.

The second rejection came in 1996 where both United as well as his boyhood club Newcastle had prepared a world record offer of £15 million. However, an eleventh-hour meeting with then-Magpies boss Kevin Keegan changed his mind to play at St. James Park instead.  

Ronaldo Nazario

A Ronaldo before Ronaldo! This surely would have been a steal of the decade for Sir Alex Ferguson. Aged 17, the Brazilian striker was shining at Cruzeiro, forcing the former Scottish boss to bring him to England during the 1913 season. However, getting a work permit for R9 became a major issue for United this time, seeing the future Barcelona and Real Madrid forward join Dutch side PSV Eindhoven instead.

Ronaldinho

Classy signing! That’s all we would have said at that time if Manchester United had managed to pull this one. Having lost David Beckham to Real Madrid, they were keen to bring Ronaldinho from Paris-Saint Germain. Even though terms were agreed upon with the ‘smiley face of soccer,’ negotiations kept getting delayed with the Parisians.

In the meantime, how could a club like Barcelona stay behind? The Catalans jumped on the opportunity and brought Ronaldinho to Nou Camp. As for United, they managed to heal their wound of losing out on the Brazilian legend by signing a young lad from Sporting CP, Cristiano Ronaldo!

Interestingly, the list doesn’t end there, as Sir Alex also failed in his attempts to sign players like Petr Čech, Thomas Müller, Arjen Robben, John Obi Mikel, Lucas Moura, and even Raphaël Varane. Years later, who would have thought the legendary manager would once again fall short in re-signing Ronaldo and simultaneously bringing in Gareth Bale?

How did Sir Alex fail to resign Cristiano Ronaldo and bring Gareth Bale to Old Trafford?

It would have been no less than a dream signing for Manchester United. But sadly, the hopes crashed. Days later, the misery doubled as Sir Alex Ferguson bid farewell to the managerial world. That, for Patrice Evra, was a ‘sad’ day as he didn’t cry but was rather in ‘shock,‘ as just days earlier, his manager had shared some secret plans for the club.

“Two weeks before, he brought me into his office and said: ‘Look at those people, they think I am going to retire, I am going to be another 10 years but we need to win more Champions Leagues,’” started Evra.

“He [Sir Alex] said: ‘Patrice, Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed 99 per cent to come back and Gareth Bale.’ He needed £200m and the club refused. Now they have spent a billion, whatever. I remembered when I got out of his office, I was like, ‘Cristiano is back, Gareth Bale, we are back in business.’ Imagine. That’s what he said,” concluded the former French international.

Though the soccer world has witnessed Ronaldo X Bale at Real Madrid, Sir Alex was keen to bring the duo to England within the same side. However, the Spanish club was successful in stealing both CR7 from United in 2009 for €94 million [$102 million] and Bale from Tottenham in 2013 for €100.8 million [$120 million], a record fee in respective timelines.