Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says his team came close to signing Raul from Real Madrid
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he came extremely close to signing former Real Madrid striker, Raul Gonzalez.
Ferguson admitted that he held talks with the player’s agent but decided against signing the 33-year-old because he already had http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Owen-c25355 in his team, who is almost of the same age. After negotiations broke down with United, Raul went onto sign with German
side, Schalke 04.
Despite making more than 500 appearances and spending more than 15 years at Madrid, Raul was not guaranteed first-team football, so he left Los Blancos in the summer of 2010. Ferguson revealed that he had been tempted to sign the striker, who is the all-time
highest goal-scorer in the UEFA Champions League history.
Talking to the reporters, Ferguson said, "Raul’s agent spoke to us when his time at Real had come to an end and I was a bit tempted because you say to yourself: he’s not too old to score a goal in the Premier League."
The Scot added, "He had a fantastic career at Madrid and players like that always find something in terms of ambition. They don’t just wither away. He still had plenty to do. But we had Michael Owen as an experienced player, as well as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dimitar-Berbatov-c11254 and
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736 plus we had signed Javier Hernandez.”
The 69-year-old went on to say that if he had not got Owen, he would definitely have signed the Spaniard without any hesitation. The former Scotland manager is known for surprise signings of experienced strikers, who are past their prime. The examples of
this policy are clear in terms of Michael Owen’s signing, and before him Ferguson brought in former Barcelona striker, Henrik Larsson, for a short loan spell in 2007.
Raul’s Schalke will take on Manchester United in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League later this month. Ferguson is wary of the Spaniard’s threat and is dearly hoping that the Madrid legend does not add any more to his 71 goals tally in the Champions
League for two weeks.
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