Why Robben move to Manchester United failed

After being linked with Manchester United for the better part of the 2004 summer transfer window, Arjen Robben has finally revealed why his move to the club never materialized.

It is reported that Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to the then-PSV winger and even invited him for dinner in Manchester, but the Holland international signed for Chelsea, and Jose Mourinho, instead. After three years with the London club, Robben moved to Real Madrid after which he secured a move to Bayern Munich in 2009.

Robben opened up on why his move to Manchester United never materialized in an interview with FourFourTwo, “I had a very good conversation with him [Ferguson] over dinner in Manchester and we spoke about football and life. I also went and had a good look around the training ground and everything was good, but after I went back to PSV nothing happened.

The former PSV Eindhoven forward added that negotiations between United and PSV never really got off, “There was no real contact and the deal didn’t happen. PSV were also negotiating with Chelsea at that time, so maybe they offered PSV more money? I don’t really know. I spoke to Chelsea and I liked their plans.

“We had one meeting and everything was done pretty quickly. Had Manchester United offered me a deal straight after I met them, I would have signed there, but it didn’t happen and I’ve got no regrets.”

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