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Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney shared how he snubbed the chance to play with Lionel Messi at Barcelona or join Real Madrid to stay at Old Trafford. He played for the Red Devils between 2004 and 2017 and is often considered among their greatest legends.
In 559 appearances for Manchester United, Wayne Rooney contributed 253 goals and 140 assists across competitions. He is also the Red Devils' all-time leading goalscorer and the only player to have scored 250 goals for the club. He led them to 17 trophies, including a UEFA Champions League trophy and five Premier League titles, among others.
However, things could have turned out differently. The English legend could have been lured to join another club at the prime of his career, including Barcelona, Real Madrid, or Chelsea.
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In his latest column with BBC Sport, Rooney recalled how he snubbed both Barca and Madrid for Manchester United. He was writing in the context of Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold reportedly agreeing to a deal to join Los Blancos this summer.
"When I told United in 2010 that I did not want to sign a new deal and put in a transfer request, three clubs came in for me. Manchester City are often talked about as being one of them, but I don't think that was ever an option for me - the teams who made an approach were Chelsea, Real and Barcelona," Rooney wrote (via GOAL).
The former England international added that he thought about playing alongside a young Lionel Messi at Barca and continued:
"A deal with Real looked more likely for a couple of days but it was Barcelona whom I thought about the most, and how I might fit into their side alongside Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets. In the end I decided to stay at United, but Barca had an incredible team then and any player would have loved to have played in it."
In his column, Wayne Rooney added that he would not blame Trent Alexander-Arnold for choosing to join Real Madrid. He considered Los Blancos a great team with superstars like Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr on their side. He believed it would be appealing for the Reds star to play alongside them, much like it was for him to join a Barca which had stars like Lionel Messi.
When Lionel Messi's former agent claimed he could have joined Real Madrid instead of Barcelona
Lionel Messi's former Argentine agent, Horacio Gaggioli, who brought him to Barcelona in 2001, once claimed he could have joined Real Madrid instead of the Catalan side. Gaggioli is famously credited for setting up Messi's tryouts at the Camp Nou the September before. In an interview with Globoesporte, he said (via ESPN):
"Due to life circumstances, I went to live in Barcelona and I brought him to Barca for a trial. But I was about to live in Madrid. If that had happened, I would have taken him to Madrid for a trial. That's life, those are the details. Today, Messi could have been a Real Madrid player, of course. The family wanted to come to Spain, to the city where I was to have some support."
Lionel Messi eventually joined Barca's youth academy, La Masia, and made his senior team debut in 2004. He went on to win a club record 35 titles with La Blaugrana over 17 seasons between 2004 and 2021. He contributed 672 goals and 303 assists in 778 outings for the Catalans across competitions.
