Thiago Alcantara wanted to join Manchester United claims Rio Ferdinand as the Liverpool star was close to joining United in 2013

Manchester United legend and former captain Rio Ferdinand made shocking claims about Thiago Alcantara’s interest in joining the Red Devils before he decided to move to Liverpool from Bayern Munich. Thiago did not have the best of starts to life at Anfield but with time he has been a very important player for Jurgen Klopp’s team in midfield.

He joined Liverpool in the summer of 2020 right after winning the three peat with Bayern Munich. Despite a poor start, he has proven his doubters wrong with some sensational display. He is currently a very vital cog in Liverpool’s midfield trio.

He has looked a lot fitter and moved really well in the last 4-5 matches and therefore he has played the entirety of the matches for the first time in the Premier League. Liverpool fans are mesmerized with his ball control, passing and vision. He even recorded most passes in their last match against Everton where they won 2-0 .

United were linked with Thiago many times but the first time they had interest on the Spaniard was when David Moyes took from Alex Ferguson in 2013. Thiago was all set to leave Barcelona and he wanted to join the Red Devils but only then Pep Guardiola came calling as he joined Bayern Munich.

Ferdinand claimed that Thiago had a talk with him about joining United. “Yea, I spoke to him. He spoke perfect English, great guy. He wanted to come to United. But you look at him now and he could not be happier,” he told at the Vibe with Five show.

Liverpool have been in tremendous form this season in the Premier League and also in Europe. They are all set to win the unprecedented quadruple.

Looking at Thiago, Ferdinand added that new arrivals at the Premier League shouldn’t be given time  to adjust and get used to the conditions before delivering at their optimal level.

With Thiago, you could have probably gone to a huge, huge amount of the fanbase at Liverpool, and it would have said after last season, ‘He isn’t good enough.’ They may have said, ‘He ain’t the player we thought he was. Playing in the German league, slowing us down, let’s get him out.'”

Ferdinand even highlighted how ex players and other pundits were criticizing  Thiago based on last season’s performances. He shared how the fans, clubs and manager need to be patient with their players as they will need time to get used to new circumstances ” I saw ex-players and pundits, talking about getting him out as he does not play the ball forward or that he was not ready-made for this league. Players need time, and it goes back to this thing with managers at Man United as well, the club needs to give managers at the club patience,” he concluded.