Adel Taarabt: Mercurial talent who lit up Premier League reveals why he didn’t sign for Man United | OneFootball

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Manchester United have signed many exciting players over the years.

Nonetheless, they have also missed out on a few, including famous names such as Ronaldinho, Paul Gascoigne, and even Paulo Di Canio at West Ham United.

Former manager Sir Alex Ferguson always had an eye for talent and possessed an incredible ability to control these sorts of players, using his fantastic man-management skills to get the best out of them.

A key example of this was how he was able to extract so much from Eric Cantona, who had previously struggled to harness his true ability in France and even at Leeds United.

Adel Taarabt

Taarabt will not be remembered as one of the best players to play in the Premier League, but during his time in England, he certainly entertained with his mercurial talent.

The 37-year-old was famed for his incredible skill on the ball and his ability to conjure up magic out of nowhere.

He spent seven years in England, playing for Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham, and Queens Park Rangers.

Taarabt has recently announced his retirement from the game, but in an interview with talkSPORT, he revealed he blew his chance to join Manchester United.

The Moroccan explained, “there was one time, we were first in the Championship and I know that game, Sir Alex Ferguson came only for me.”

He continued, “we were playing at Hull City, and he just came because he wanted to sign me.”

Things started to go wrong when “after 42 minutes, I fought with Shan Derry during the game and I went to the touchline. I said to [my manager] Neil Warnock, ‘You’re gonna change me now, I’m going out.’ Neil Warnock said, ‘No, I’m not going change you, stay here’. I was just standing for four minutes on the touchline. I said ‘Change me. I want to go out.’ And then after half time, Neil Warnock went and destroyed Shaun Derry.”

The Moroccan then claimed that Ferguson must have thought he was crazy and he never heard of United’s interest again.