David Moyes recalls three failed transfer moves during his Manchester United reign

David Moyes wanted some big names at Manchester United (Picture: Getty Images)

David Moyes did not have long to make waves in the transfer market as Manchester United boss, but he did try and fail to make three big signings at Old Trafford.

The Scot was in charge of the Red Devils for less than 10 months from July 2013, following Alex Ferguson’s immense reign at the club.

Clearly things did not go well for Moyes after signing a six-year deal with Manchester United, but it could all have been different if they’d landed their transfer targets over his only summer in charge.

The Red Devils tried to sign Gareth Bale, Cesc Fabregas and Leighton Baines in the summer of 2013, but they ended up with Marouane Fellaini.

‘My plans [at Manchester United] were to not do anything different to what Sir Alex Ferguson did but I couldn’t be Alex, I couldn’t manage like him,’ Moyes told Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet.

‘I wasn’t going to come in and change the philosophy of Manchester United, I was just going to continue everything I thought he’d been doing right.

‘At the time, I remember when I’d met Sir Alex, he asked whether I’d be interested in Cesc Fabregas, and I said, ‘Definitely.’ That was probably the main signing we were trying to get in summer, and I’d spoken to Cesc, and he had said that if he started the first game for Barcelona, he wouldn’t come but if he didn’t then he would come. So, I was going to have to wait right to that time to find out.

Cesc Fabregas did return to the Premier League with Chelsea in 2014 (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Gareth Bale was the other one [we were trying to sign]. My interpretation with Manchester United was that they had great wingers, great wide players with traditions from George Best and you name them all through the years.

‘So, I thought Gareth Bale would be the one and to be fair to the club, they’d offered more money and had tried to get him, but he had his heart set on Real Madrid. We’d took it right to the wire to get him.

‘I didn’t have a backup to what I wanted after those two players, but I’d brought in Marouane Fellaini – he was the only one that came in. My thought with Marouane was because I’m thinking they’ll be going away to Stoke City and games like that – and to be fair to him, he had a good career at United.

Marouane Fellaini followed David Moyes to Manchester United from Everton (Picture: Getty Images)

‘We also tried to bring in Leighton Baines, as a backup for Patrice [Evra] at the time, which we didn’t get.’

Fellaini arrived from Everton for £27.5m, while Guillermo Varela was signed from Penarol and Saidy Janko from Zurich that summer.

There was a significant signing under Moyes in January 2014 as Juan Mata arrived from Chelsea, but the manager was gone before the end of the season.

Moyes added that, despite the Red Devils being Premier League champions when he took over, it was a squad that needed meaningful change.

‘The team had just won the Premier League, and I was thrilled to be taking over, thinking this is great, but it was also a team that was on the verge of having to change around,’ he said.

‘The players had a great loyalty to Sir Alex Ferguson, no matter who you had coming in, which is amicable, but I did feel like it was going to take a longer time to change things around.’

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