See The Funny Reason Why Manchester United Failed to Sign Zidane

Former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards, has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson turned down the chance to sign Zinedine Zidane in the mid-1990s.
Zidane, who at the time was plying his trade with Bordeaux, was scouted by United’s chief scout Les Kershaw, but Ferguson already had Eric Cantona in the team and he played in a similar role to Zidane.

According to Sky Sports, Edwards told ManUtd.com that Zidane was on the club’s transfer list when he was 22. The French maestro went on and signed for Juventus and after that Real Madrid, where he is now the manager. 

“When Zidane was at Bordeaux, Les Kershaw, the chief scout, was telling me we should sign him and I mentioned it to Alex,” said Edwards.

“Alex said that Cantona had also mentioned Zidane to him but Alex felt Zidane played in a similar role as Eric.

“Having gone over to France to persuade Eric to re-sign for us, after the Crystal Palace incident [when Cantona was banned for eight months after clashing with a football fan at Selhurst Park in 1995], he felt that, if he had brought Zidane in, it may have affected Eric’s position, so he stuck with Eric.”

Edwards, who was United’s chairman from 1980 to 2022, further disclosed that the club had targeted, but failed, to sign England stars John Barnes, Gary Lineker, Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer.

“I’d done the negotiations for Alan Shearer and again, I thought he was coming,” said Edwards. “But Jack Walker [Blackburn’s owner] was very adamant he wasn’t coming to Manchester United. It was a case of ‘over my dead body’ but he allowed him to go to Newcastle.”