I almost joined Man United – it was 50/50 but Manuel Pellegrini convinced me
Marcos Senna was on the verge of joining Manchester United in 2006, but a conversation with Manuel Pellegrini saw him snub the Red Devils in favour of staying on at Villarreal
Marcos Senna revealed he was tantalisingly close to becoming a Manchester United player before Manuel Pellegrini swayed his decision.
The Brazilian-born midfielder, who later chose to play for Spain internationally, climbed up through the ranks at Rio Branco-SP and moved to Corinthians in 1999. By 2001 found himself on Juventude's roster, before joining Sao Caetano in early 2002. Senna's stint at the Sao Paulo club was brief; he soon took off for European shores, joining Villarreal during the summer of 2002.
He chalked up an impressive tally of 33 goals in 361 appearances over 11 years at the Spanish club. Yet, his career path almost veered towards Manchester United in 2006 - a detail he shared with Goal in 2020, reminiscing about the opportunity to work under Sir Alex Ferguson.
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He explained: "I did not talk to [Ferguson], but my agent and Villarreal did, and I was very close to signing for Manchester United. At that stage I was full of doubts, my wife was pregnant with our first son and our adaptation here was excellent.
"Manchester United had asked me for [a response in] a few weeks, but we were creating a great team here: the club bought Robert Pires, Nihat Kahveci and Giuseppe Rossi was here, we had a great team," reports the Mirror.
"Personally, I would have loved to play for Manchester United at that time, but I also had desires to stay here. Villarreal had just played a Champions League semi-final and were buying big players." And what swayed his decision? A pivotal conversation with then coach Pellegrini proved influential.
He elaborated on the crucial moment that anchored his future: "To be honest, I was 50/50 until I spoke to Pellegrini and finally I signed for three more years with Villarreal and at the end I spent all my European career here in Spain." Senna, who claimed two Intertoto Cups during his time with Villarreal, eventually left the club in 2013, heading off to spend two final years in football with New York Cosmos, before retiring in 2015.
While Senna was committing to his Spanish club, back in England, United were relishing an epoch of Premier League success. Under Ferguson's management, they clinched five Premier League titles, two League Cups, four Charity Shields, one Club World Cup, and a Champions League victory from 2006 until Ferguson's last season in 2012/13.
Pellegrini and Villarreal's paths diverged in 2009 as the coach embarked on an illustrious journey through some of Europe's top football clubs, including stints at Real Madrid, Malaga, Manchester City, Hebei China Fortune, and West Ham. Since 2020, Pellegrini has been leading Real Betis as their head coach.
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