From close call to brutal rejection - Moyes' 3 failed Man Utd midfield targets

It is safe to say David Moyes' short spell in charge of Manchester United didn't exactly go to plan.

The 59-year-old replaced longstanding boss Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm and the latter was always going to be a hard person to replace given his record and number of trophies he won. Ferguson secured 24 major honours during his 26-year stint at Old Trafford.

Moyes arguably wasn't given the time to implement his style and philosophy on the club as he was sacked after just a year in the dugout. He accumulated a 52% win percentage and guided the Red Devils to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League.

It could have been a whole lot different for Moyes if he managed to get his main three midfield targets over the line, though. The trio were all linked with a move to United in summer 2013, but neither signed as he had to settle with those already at the club.

United ended up bringing in Marouane Fellaini from Everton for a fee in the region of £30million. This signing didn't exactly work out either, although the Belgian did make a total of 177 appearances for the club.

In the same season, the Red Devils were chasing a deal for now-Real Madrid superstar Toni Kroos. After winning the World Cup with Germany, the midfielder was a transfer target for United and he also wanted to make the move to Manchester rather than Madrid.

Moyes was so determined to bring Kroos to United that he made a personal trip to Munich to meet the player and his family. At the time, the former Bayer Levekusen man felt 'undervalued' at Bayern Munich and Old Trafford was his most likely destination after giving his word on the transfer.

"I knew beforehand that United wanted me," Kroos said, ahead of Los Blancos' Champions League semi-final second-leg tie with city rivals Manchester City. "And Moyes absolutely underlined that. It was a really nice afternoon with very pleasant people.. We talked a lot about United's football plan, which convinced me.

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"But we also got to know each other as people. We knew quite a bit about the Moyes family afterwards. We talked about how we lived and how we all imagined life as a family.

"In the end we broke up to do it. So we agreed verbally. The next step should be to look at everything on the spot in Manchester. The move would not have been that complicated - after all, we only had one child at the time, seven months old. It would all have worked."

The deal didn't materialise, however, Kroos decided to join Champions League winners Real Madrid. He wasn't United's only target, with Moyes also keen on signing Cesc Fabregas.

But that pursuit stopped the Red Devils from re-signing Paul Pogba from Juventus. The France international left United 12 months previously on a free transfer in order to make a name for himself in Turin.

Under the guidance of first Antonio Conte and then Massimiliano Allegri, Pogba developed into one of the most talented midfielders in the world. He eventually came back to the club in 2016 for a then world record fee of £89million.

Pogba could've re-joined United sooner than he did, though. According to The Athletic, the club were made aware of his desire to return after Ferguson was replaced by Moyes.

However, Moyes chose to focus his attention on Fabregas from Barcelona in a £25million deal. The former Arsenal captain was was reluctant to leave Catalonia at that point, meaning a potential move was unlikely. He did return to England in 2014 when he joined Chelsea.

The final player Moyes revealed he was interested in was Gareth Bale before he signed for Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur in 2013. The Welshman impressed during his first few years at Los Blancos but has found his game time limited this season.

"I wanted him to be my first signing at Manchester United," he told eirSPORT back in 2019. "We came close, spoke to him, but he had his heart set on Real Madrid and we couldn't talk him out of it.'

"It was a real disappointment because I saw him as a Manchester United type player. He carries himself well, I think he's a terrific player.

"He can play wide, we can play as a striker now that he's developed that. I just think all round he's a terrific athlete and a brilliant footballer so I think that he would have fitted what we wanted but I couldn't talk him out of it."