Sir Alex Ferguson’s list of players he wished he had managed at Old Trafford is doing the rounds again, and one name on it carries more sting than the rest.
In a 2021 interview with Gary Neville for LADbible TV, republished by GiveMeSport this week, the former Manchester United manager picked out Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Dele Alli and Sergio Aguero as four Premier League players he regretted never working with. Three of them never came close to joining him. Aguero, by Ferguson’s own account, nearly did.
In his 2015 book Leading, Ferguson wrote that United had considered a move for the Argentine striker in 2011 before pulling out over the demands of his representatives.
“His agent was demanding a price we were not prepared to pay.”
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Aguero joined Manchester City that summer. On 13 May 2012, with the clock showing 93:20 and City trailing Queens Park Rangers 2-1, he swept the ball past QPR goalkeeper Paddy Kenny for the 3-2 winner that sealed City’s first Premier League title. United finished second on goal difference.
“Terrific striker. Exceptional goalscoring”
Years later, speaking to Neville, Ferguson did not hide how highly he had rated the player he nearly signed.
“Aguero has been a terrific striker, there’s no doubt about that. His goalscoring has been exceptional.”
He put Kane and Son in the same bracket of admired could-have-beens.
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“I think (Harry) Kane, I thought Dele Alli was going to be a top player, I must admit. Kane, (Heung-min) Son, these are excellent players.”
Ferguson’s line on Alli carried the only hint of disappointment.
“I don’t know what has happened there,” he said, referring to a career that stalled after Alli’s early Tottenham years.
Ferguson’s BBC Breakfast return
The 2021 interview has gained new traction because Ferguson has returned to the public eye. In a BBC Breakfast appearance tied to his new book Games of My Life, he spoke publicly about his recovery from the brain haemorrhage he suffered in May 2018.
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“I was terrified. I wish I could say I was comfortable. I wasn’t,” Ferguson told the programme, describing his first return to Old Trafford four months after surgery.
He also described the loss of his voice after the operation, and the speech-therapy exercises, naming birds, animals and rivers, that helped bring it back.
Aguero’s City legacy, Kane and Son’s exits
Aguero finished his City career with the club’s all-time goalscoring record and a legacy built partly on the strike that broke United. Kane and Son, Ferguson’s other picks, spent their peak years at Tottenham before leaving English football, Kane for Bayern Munich and Son for Los Angeles FC.
“I think that the top teams always produce a player that can stand out.”
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