Wesley Sneijder reveals the reason why transfer to Manchester United broke down in 2011

Wesley Sneijder to Manchester United was one of the great transfer sagas that never happened.

The club were constantly linked to the Dutch midfielder in the tail-end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign at Old Trafford.

Sneijder moved to Inter Milan from Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 and enjoyed four years at the Italian club, winning the Champions League in 2010 as well as one Serie A title and three Italian cups.

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After arguably being robbed of the Ballon d’Or in 2010, the Dutchman has revealed that he was close to joining United the following summer but that the deal collapsed because of his agent, who wanted more money from the English club.

“Well, actually, I was close in 2011,” Sneijder told SPORTbible. “I was close in 2011 after the Champions League and after the World Cup. But then, what I heard later is that because at a certain point, we were talking with United and at a certain point, there was nothing anymore.

“And I asked my manager, ‘What happened with United?’ and he said, ‘No, nothing, it’s over’. But two years later, I found out that he asked for extra money for himself.

“So that’s why the deal was over. So actually, [Sir Alex] Ferguson, he told one of my relatives.”

Sneijder would go onto move to Galatasaray in 2013 and spend four years in Turkey before going to OGC Nice in 2017. He would finally transfer to Qatar side Al-Gharafa SC in the following January, where he would remain until his retirement in the summer of 2019.

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