Man United nearly signed Defoe: what he says happened

Jermain Defoe has opened up on his Man United near-miss, and the detail that stands out is who was driving it.

Defoe, who scored 162 Premier League goals in his career, says Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign him for Manchester United.

The move never happened. Defoe says it still bothers him, even now.

He has also named the other clubs that came close: two offers from Liverpool, an approach from Juventus, and the deal that took him back to Tottenham in 2009 instead.

Defoe and Manchester United: how it happened

Defoe says the speculation about a move to Old Trafford started long before anyone thought it was close. “There was always speculation, even when I was at West Ham, about joining Man United,” he told the Manchester Evening News.

According to Defoe, United players were talking to Ferguson about him as a possible signing, and the manager himself wanted the deal done. That part of the story only came back into focus recently, when Patrice Evra raised it with him out of nowhere.

“I spoke with Patrice Evra recently and he also asked, ‘What happened when you were meant to sign for us? Sir Alex Ferguson was talking about you!'”

Defoe said. Evra’s question, more than two decades on, is the clearest sign yet that the interest was real inside the United dressing room, at least from his side of the story.

Defoe’s decorated career

Defoe’s career makes the Man United near-miss worth revisiting rather than filing away. He sits 10th on the Premier League’s all-time scoring list, won the League Cup in 2008, and retired at Sunderland in 2022 after two decades in the top flight.

A forward of that output almost walking into Ferguson’s dressing room says something about how thin the line was between the United squads we remember and the ones that nearly existed.

United fans know that debate well; it still shapes how the club judges its forwards, as our report on the Rashford verdict showed only last month.

Defoe’s other near-misses back up the pattern. “I got offers from Liverpool twice,” he said, with Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher involved on the Anfield side under Kenny Dalglish. Juventus also came calling.

“I also got a call from an agent who wanted to take me to Juventus, but I’d already agreed to go back to Tottenham under Harry Redknapp in 2009,” Defoe explained.

Taken together, these are not throwaway lines from a player padding out an interview. They are the near-misses of a genuine goalscorer, and that is exactly why Ferguson’s interest carries weight even without the man himself confirming it.

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