Roma legend Daniele De Rossi has revealed he spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson about joining Manchester United back in 2006.
Speaking to the Overlap podcast about his playing days, De Rossi heaped praise on the Red Devils and revealed that he almost had the chance to play at Old Trafford after chatting to the “boss” at the airport.
“I’ve been following English football since I was a kid,” De Rossi said during a chat with Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright. “I follow Manchester United a little bit more. I’m interest in you (Roy Keane) and what you’ve built. I really like it.”
“I almost came to England, it was my first choice if I left Rome – it didn’t happen. It was Manchester United for me, I had the chance to play for other teams but Manchester United is the best club in England for me.”
Meanwhile, De Rossi spoke about how Italy coach Marcello Lippi, a coach he feared, took him to speak to Sir Alex Ferguson at the airport in 2006 while he was travelling to the World Cup finals in Germany.
“In 2006, I was at the airport during the World Cup and Marcello Lippi call me – I went there, I was scare of him and he open the door, took me into a small room and there was Sir Alex Ferguson there.”
“He flies from city to city to watch the World Cup – Lippi said, ‘You have to go there.’ I was nervous because of him, because Lippi is scary.”
“It was a short moment, like three minutes, nothing serious but I wanted to say, ‘Yes, I want to go’ because Manchester United was something big when I was a kid.”
However, the move ultimately fell through and United sign Michael Carrick from Spurs, with De Rossi also in the side that were hammer 1-7 in the Champions League.
“They made the right โปรโมชั่น ufabet decision because he (Carrick) is a great player. I played against him three or four times and sometimes it was a disaster for us. We lost 7-1, 3-0 – I still scored (in the 7-1 defeat) but for us it was a shame.”