Philippe Mexes was another target. Just imagine the outrageous bicycle kicks he could have scored at Old Trafford
Sir Alex Ferguson's transfer target list from 2004 has been unearthed on
Reddit and it features a number of interesting little gems.
The main one being that Fergie wanted Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany - who is now leaving the club after 11 years to become player-manager at Anderlecht - long before City got their hands on him.
In the 2004 summer window, Kompany would have been just 18 years old with a single season of senior football under his belt for Anderlecht. The fact that Fergie and the United scouts singled him out from that point is pretty impressive.
It wasn't until Hamburg needed a replacement for Daniel Van Buyten that company actually moved, however, after he joined the German club for €10 million in 2006.
He moved to City just two and a half years later and the rest is history. His trophy cabinet - four Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and two Community Shields - pretty much tell the story.
Elsewhere it's quite interesting to note Ferguson's other targets, which include three players he did end up signing: Gabriel Heinze from PSG, Gerard Pique from Barcelona and Alan Smith from Leeds United, along with the one he didn't, bicycle kick merchant Philippe Mexes.
In case you needed reminding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iIV2PO_aos
In the Milan derby! Just fucking stop that.
And just to prove it wasn't a fluke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6HbeoapJDc
And, lastly, if you didn't giggle at the fact that Ricardo, Michael Stewart, Nicky Butt and Diego Forlan (who, obviously, didn't do too badly after leaving Manchester) were all listed under the 'EXCESS' column then you have something wrong with you. That is all.
