'I was very close to signing for Man Utd – but Manuel Pellegrini made me change my mind'

Marcos Senna was on the brink of signing for Manchester United at the peak of Sir Alex Ferguson's glory years, but Manuel Pellegrini convinced him to spend three more years with Villarreal

Marcos Senna almost joined Manchester United – until former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini changed his mind.

The Brazilian midfielder - who opted to represent Spain at international level - made his way through the youth ranks of Rio Branco-SP, before making a move to Corinthians in 1999. Juventude came knocking in 2001, before Senna teamed up with Sao Caetano in the January of the very next year.

However, his time at the Sao Paulo side was short and he made the move to Europe with Villarreal in the summer of 2002 after just 13 games. He spent the bulk of his career with the Spanish side, scoring 33 goals in 361 appearances over an 11-year period.

But it could have been a completely different state of affairs for the footballing legend, who has since admitted that he almost joined the Red Devils in the summer of 2006 to team up with Sir Alex Ferguson. Speaking to Goal in 2020 about the failed move, Senna said: "I did not talk to [Ferguson], but my agent and Villarreal did, and I was very close to signing for Manchester United.

"At that stage I was full of doubts, my wife was pregnant with our first son and our adaptation here was excellent. Manchester United had asked me for [a response in] a few weeks, but we were creating a great team here: the club bought Robert Pires, Nihat Kahveci and Giuseppe Rossi was here, we had a great team.

"Personally, I would have loved to play for Manchester United at that time, but I also had desires to stay here. Villarreal had just played a Champions League semi-final and were buying big players." But what changed the footballer's mind in the grand scheme of things? It turned out to be a chat with his coach at the time, Manuel Pellegrini.

He added: "To be honest, I was 50/50 until I spoke to Pellegrini and finally I signed for three more years with Villarreal and at the end I spent all my European career here in Spain." Senna won two Intertoto Cups with Villarreal before leaving the club in 2013 to spend two years at New York Cosmos - hanging his boots up in 2015.

In stark contrast, United were enjoying their Premier League glory years around the time that Senna snubbed a transfer to the north west. Ferguson guided United to five Premier League trophies, two League Cups, four Charity Shields, a Club World Cup and a Champions League between 2006 and his final campaign in charge in the 2012/13 season.

Pellegrini, meanwhile, parted ways with Villarreal in 2009, going on to enjoy stints with Real Madrid, Malaga, Manchester City, Hebei China Fortune, West Ham, and Real Betis. He has been head coach of the latter since 2020.

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