Robert Lewandowski previously gave the green light to Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson, but the transfer never took place when Borussia Dortmund refused to sell
Robert Lewandowski has revealed that he said “yes” against the opportunity to move to Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson – only for the movement not to materialize.
The Barcelona star has been one of Europe's Elite No. 9s for more than ten years and has established countless records, but a different path may have seen him play under the Scot under the Scot in his last year as a manager at Old Trafford.
It was in 2012 that he gave the green light to move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester for what the last spell of Ferguson's Stint would have been in Manchester. The interest came from the back of a season in which Lewandowski claimed the Bundesliga title, who scored 30 times.
Dortmund, however, was simply not willing to sell and paid it to every switch. The Polish star told the BBC: “To Manchester United I decided and said yes. I wanted to see Manchester United at Alex Ferguson.”
It means that Lewandowski has been productive in Germany and Spain, but never England. Although there is a part of him that it would have liked to have tried in the Premier League, he is a CV that brags Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona cannot be sniffed.
He admitted: “Maybe it could be a regret [not to play in the Premier League]. But when I look back [having] Played for Bayern Munich, Dortmund and now Barcelona I have to say that I am very happy with my career.
“I don't have this kind of feeling that I missed something, because every movement or decision … I made because I wanted it.”
It was again a heavyweight management figure in Jurgen Klopp who helped the development of Lewandowski near Dortmund. The German is considered one of the best managers the club ever had and his personal touch proved crucial in the career trajectory of the Paal.
He moved to the club like a young person, not long after he had lost his father in his teenage years, and it was until his relationship with Klopp he found someone to fill that emptiness with one interaction that changed his life.
“When I moved to Dortmund, I was a very young guy, I lost my father when I was 16,” he said. “I was certainly a boy who was closed more, I didn't want to speak about my emotion. After a few years I met someone I don't want to say as a father but similar.
“Perhaps after so many years the kind of conversation I missed with my father, I had Jurgen. I remember the conversation so far because it changed my life, it changed my football life. I stuck my emotion out, I stuck the words I had held in for a few years and then I felt freedom. Maybe I started playing better and better.”