Former Manchester United defender, Patrice Evra, has revealed that Gareth Bale was one of Manchester United’s main targets in the summer of 2013.
Bale was unplayable in the 2012-13 season, winning the PFA Player of the Year award for the second time during his Spurs career.
Unsurprisingly a move to Real Madrid followed in the summer, with Los Blancos paying a world record £85.3 million transfer fee (BBC Sport).
Tottenham reinvested the money into seven new signings, with only Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela enjoying relative success at North London from the players who arrived.
Bale has experienced tremendous success at Madrid, scoring more than 100 goals for the club, winning La Liga, Copa del Rey, and four Champions League titles in the process.
However, Evra has now revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson told him in 2013 that the Welshman was likely Manchester United bound, along with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Frenchman told UTD podcast: “Two weeks before that (Sir Alex’s retirement in 2013), I remember there was a lot of media saying Ferguson will maybe retire next year, and he said, ‘Patrice, I will never retire. I will be here another 10 years’.
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“He then said: ‘My target is I’m 99 per cent sure we will have Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. I just need these two players to win the Champions League again. Ninety-nine per cent.’
“And to be fair, when I speak with Cristiano, I ask him and he said yes to the boss, and was coming to join United. He told me this.”
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Evra suggests in this interview that perhaps United would have signed Bale and Ronaldo if Sir Alex Ferguson hadn’t retired that summer. However, I don’t believe that was the case as Bale clearly had his heart set on a move to Madrid at the time. Besides, Daniel Levy would have wanted an even higher transfer fee from United.
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