Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Thiago Alcantara 'wanted' to sign for Manchester United before he sealed his move to Liverpool.
The midfielder made the move to Anfield from Bayern Munich during the 2020 summer transfer window. Thiago’s first season at Liverpool was dominated by injuries with him also contracting Coronavirus during the opening months of his time at the club.
The former Barcelona man didn’t make his Anfield bow until the turn of the calendar year - but has truly kicked on this season.
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Now the midfielder has established himself as a key player in Jurgen Klopp’s system. The 31-year-old has become a driving force behind Liverpool’s quadruple effort and has been hailed by pundits and supporters for his impressive displays.
But Ferdinand has claimed that things could have worked out very differently. Speaking on his own podcast, the former England international has claimed Thiago told him he was keen on a move to Old Trafford in 2020 when he was linked with a move away from Bayern.
“Thiago has been the stand out midfielder for the last few weeks and months he’s been absolutely top,” he told his VibeWithFive podcast.
“You look at his stats. Thiago’s pass accuracy by the way in the last two games against Everton and Man Utd 98.4 percent against Everton and 95.6 percent against Everton. That is ridiculous.
“I spoke to him at the time. He speaks perfect English, he was a great guy, wanted to come to United. But you look at him now and he couldn’t be happier.”
Before the now BT Sport pundit added: “What I would like to talk about just with Thiago is that you could have gone to a huge amount of the fanbase after last season and [they] would have said 'he isn’t good enough for us, he isn’t the player he thought he was, German League, Bundesliga, he’s slowing us down, let’s get him out'.
“There were ex-players I saw saying 'he’s side to side, doesn’t play the ball forward he isn’t ready-made for this league'. Players need time.
“It goes back to this thing with managers and Man Utd as well the club need to give the manager at Man Utd patience, the clubs need and the fans need to give players that come in from other leagues especially patience.
“Sancho is another example. I bet you see a better player with Sancho next season for sure.”
