Brazilian football legend Pelé has admitted he was “close to coming to Manchester United” during his playing career.
The three-time World Cup-winner made the revelation during an interview with Shortlist, saying: “I didn’t want to leave Brazil. Santos was the top team. Now it would be easier to move. I was invited to Real Madrid and close to coming to Manchester United.”
The 74-year-old scored 77 goals in 91 appearances for Brazil between 1957 and 1971 and would have been an exciting addition to Matt Busby’s European Cup-winning side of 1968, which featured the likes of Bobby Charlton and George Best.
Pelé also spoke about his experience of working with Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine while filming Escape to Victory.
“When I got the script I was a goalkeeper and Stallone was a forward,” he claims. “When we started training for the film we saw Stallone knew nothing about football. We teased him because he didn’t even know how to kick a ball.
“Michael Caine was my teacher. He’d call me over and say ‘Pelé, you must be more patient – this is a film, not reality.’ He was fantastic.”
