De Rossi: I’d ‘have liked’ to tell Ferguson I wanted to join ‘huge’ Manchester United | OneFootball

Daniele De Rossi claimed he had no regrets for staying at Roma during his entire career, but he conceded that he would have loved to tell Sir Alex Ferguson he could join him at Manchester United in a brief conversation surprisingly set up by then-Italy coach Marcello Lippi.

Speaking to the Overlap Podcast about his footballing days, the former midfielder expressed all his admiration for Manchester United, which was ‘something huge’ when he used to play for the Giallorossi and the only club that tempted him to leave the Stadio Olimpico.

The Roma legend would eventually close the door to every chance he had to play elsewhere, deciding to wear only one shirt in Europe before leaving for Boca Juniors in January 2019, where he would spend the last six months of his career.

Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi (R) is congratulated by former captain Francesco Totti during his farewell to Roma after 18 years at his home-town club after the Italian Serie A football match between Roma and Parma on May 26, 2019 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)

De Rossi on the three-minute chat with Sir Alex Ferguson set up by Lippi

“I followed football in England when I was younger,” De Rossi told Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, and Ian Wright in the interview.

“I followed Manchester United a little more, I was fascinated by you [Roy Keane] and your legacy. I really liked it.

“I was close to coming to England, it was my first option if I left Rome.

“I couldn’t go. It was Manchester United for me, I had some chances to go to other teams, but Manchester United was the one I recognised as the best club in England.”

The concrete chance to make a move to Old Trafford came when the midfielder was part of Italy’s World Cup-winning expedition to Germany in 2006, as Marcello Lippi, a coach he was ‘scared of’, tried to set up a talk between him and the then-Red Devils manager.

“It was 2006, when I was in the airport during the World Cup and Marcello Lippi called me,” De Rossi said.

“I went there, I was scared of him, and he opened the door, brought me inside a small room and there was Sir Alex Ferguson in this room.

“He was flying from one city to another to watch the World Cup.

“Lippi said: ‘You have to go there’. I was shy, because of him, because of Lippi as well, he was scary.

“It was a three-minute moment, nothing serious, but I’d have liked to say: ‘Yes, I want to come’ because Manchester United was something huge when I was younger.”

Ferguson’s side would eventually sign Michael Carrick in that same position, and the former Roma player believes they ‘made the right call’ as he recalled some tough games against them.

“They made the right call because he was a great player,” he admitted.

“I played against him three or four times and sometimes it was a disaster for us. We lost 7-1, 3-0, I even scored [in the 7-1 loss] but it was embarassing for us.”