Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly went to Karim Benzema’s parents’ house earlier in his career as he tried to get a transfer deal done for the Frenchman.
Benzema started his career at Lyon and established himself as a real wonderkid early on in his career, though it seems Man Utd never had much of a realistic chance of convincing him to move to Old Trafford.
Anthony Mounier, one of Benzema’s old team-mates, told The Athletic that Ferguson did what he could to lure Benzema to United, but he idolised the Brazilian Ronaldo and wanted to emulate him at Real Madrid.
“Karim was the man at this point,” Mounier said. “Manchester United were so keen on signing him that Sir Alex Ferguson went to Karim’s house to meet his parents.
“But his dream was to play for Real Madrid. He really looked up to the Brazilian Ronaldo. That was his idol. Karim’s dream has always been to play for Real Madrid and he wanted to follow in Ronaldo’s footsteps.
“If Real Madrid want to sign you, you can’t turn them down.”
Benzema has gone on to become a Madrid legend, and will be hoping to add to his status as one of the club’s all-time greats with another big performance in this weekend’s Champions League final against Liverpool.
United fans, however, will just have to wonder what could have been if Ferguson had been able to convince the player to head to Manchester earlier in his career.