10 Man Utd Players Who Nearly Signed For Liverpool

4. Nemanja Vidic

The cornerstone of Manchester United's recent success, the stoic centre-half possesses an aura of defiance, steel and a will to win. With Jose Mourinho's seemingly unstoppable Chelsea machine in full flight, Sir Alex Ferguson needed to inject a bit of an energy and belief into a limp Mancunian side, and so turned to a Spartak Moscow defender. The relative unknown in Premier League circles, pinched for a fee of £7 million, would go on to make 300 appearances for the Red Devils, eventually assuming the captain's armband. Almost immediately, his arrival signalled the end of Chelsea's dominance, and the Red Devils have not looked back since. However, it could have been so very different had Liverpool followed up their initial interest prior to his Old Trafford move.

''I was talking with Liverpool. I was very close to Fiorentina, then Liverpool and after that Manchester United. At the time, it was a hard choice but when you look at it now with the three years we have won many trophies and I play regularly. Liverpool started the meetings, then they stopped.'' - Nemanja Vidic, February 2009.

With Rafa Benitez reportedly unwilling to offer more than £4.5 million for the player, he subsequently turned his attentions to Brondby's 21 year old Daniel Agger, who linked up with the club for £6 million. Having dropped his interest in the Serbian international, the path was cleared for Manchester United to acquire the stony-faced centre-half who would enjoy such success under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson. With Agger having gone on to enjoy an injury-ravaged stay on Merseyside, while Vidic lifted trophy after trophy, Benitez might just wish he had stumped up the extra couple of million.