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#3 Gareth Bale
During his final three seasons at Tottenham Hotspur, Gareth Bale, a Manchester United target, was widely regarded as one of the top ten players in the world.
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In 2011 and 2013, he was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year. In 2013, Bale was also named the PFA Young Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season.
The Welshman was heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013. Manchester United, though, looked to hijack Los Blancos' deal for the winger. The club reportedly offered Bale more money, but the Tottenham man had his heart set on a move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
"Gareth Bale was probably the first name I thought of when I got the job,” Moyes told football365. “I thought Gareth Bale was a Manchester United player. He was the right type.
Moyes continued:
“United have a great history of wide players, with George Best to Ryan Giggs and a whole lot of other brilliant ones in between. I wanted Gareth Bale to be my first signing at Manchester United. But it was already down the road a bit with Real Madrid. I tried to hijack it. I tried to get him. Manchester United offered more money than Real Madrid. They offered more money to the player."
#4 Ronaldinho
Prior to his move to Barcelona in 2003, Ronaldinho was plying his trade in France with Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazilian maestro was well on his way to becoming one of the greatest players the game has ever seen.
Ronaldinho was reportedly close to signing for Manchester United, but the deal went south after the English club failed to agree terms with the superstar's agent.
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes revealed that the club was very close' to signing Ronaldinho. Sir Alex Ferguson later blamed former Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon for losing out on Ronaldinho to Barcelona.
"There was a problem with his brother, who was his agent, but Peter Kenyon, who was chief executive then, didn't get the job done," the former Manchester United manager said.
#5 Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer was one of the greatest goalscorers the Premier League has ever seen. The Englishman still holds the record for the most Premier League goals (260) scored by any player. He made a name for himself during his time with Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.
The striker is also renowned for rejecting a move to Manchester United not once but twice. Shearer rejected the advances of Manchester United prior to his move to Blackburn Rovers and also decided against joining Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford prior to his move to Newcastle.
Former chairman Martin Edwards revealed details about Manchester United's failure to sign Shearer in 1996.
Edwards worked at the club for over 30 years and claimed it was Blackburn owner Jack Walker who put the brakes on the transfer. He also said the player had met Ferguson and reportedly agreed to join Manchester United.
"I'd actually done a deal as far as Alan Shearer's contract was concerned; we'd come to a settlement," Edwards said on Beyond the Page on NBC Sports, where he was promoting Red Glory, a book about his time at the club.
Edwards continued:
"Shearer had been to Alex Ferguson's house, spoke to him and assured him he wanted to come. The problem, I think, was with the chairman of Blackburn, Jack Walker, who was not a great fan of Manchester United; (we were) local rivals, both Lancashire clubs."
Edwards concluded that Shearer didn't come to Manchester United, as he didn't want to upset Walker, a father figure for the player, saying:
"He didn't want Alan Shearer to come to Manchester United. Shearer was quite close to Walker, who was like a father figure to him, and I don't think Alan wanted to upset him by coming to United. And I'm not sure Jack would have let him come anyway, whereas he was happy for Alan to go to Newcastle; I don't think that was a threat to him."
