It is common knowledge that we attempted to sign Steven Gerrard from Liverpool back in 2004 back when the midfielder was having cold feet about his Anfield future, and we also nearly signed another Liverpool star in Fernando Torres. United were closely tracking a then-16-year-old Torres shortly before he left Atletico Madrid, but Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed the striker used our interest to negotiate an improved contract in Spain. "We watched him many times and tried to sign him when he was 16," Ferguson confirmed. Instead, the forward ended up on Merseyside, scoring 65 goals for the Reds before securing a British transfer record £50 million move to Chelsea in 2011. Missing out on Torres may not seem so devastating now, given he has largely struggled at Stamford Bridge and has failed to replicate his goal-scoring form at Liverpool.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
