Man City also made huge bid for French winger…
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Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has claimed that back in 2009 he was the subject of a transfer tug of war between Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid, reports the Mirror.
“I was pulled one way and then the other, that made my head spin,” explained the Frenchman.
“I was on the verge of leaving. I then had two, three conversations with [former general manager] Uli Hoeness and [chairman] Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. And they were really cool, I will never forget that.”
Ribery claims that the fees being bandied around were as high as “60, 65, 70, or even 80 million euros”.
Ribery’s now 31, and despite finishing 3rd in the 2013 Ballon d’Or, he’s arguably past his best, with players such as Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller currently stealing his limelight at Bayern.
Back in 2009 though, when Ribery claims Chelsea and Manchester City were most interested, he was coming off the back of scoring 34 times in two seasons with the Germans, following a big money move from Marseille.
If a transfer had gone through it would have made him the world’s second most expensive player behind £80m Cristiano Ronaldo, at the time.
Ribery also gave his opinion on the upcoming Ballon d’Or, and unsurprisingly backed his two Bayern teammates…
“What can I say? For me, Manuel Neuer or Arjen Robben have to win it, there are only two views,” he said.
“Manu has won everything, is a good person, not arrogant.
“Arjen played an unbelievable last Bundesliga season and after that an excellent World Cup. But I fear that there is still a lot of politics.”
The decision will be announced early next year.