Seven players Sir Alex Ferguson tried to sign as Man Utd manager but failed including deal that Zinedine Zidane hijacked

Sir Alex Ferguson was responsible for some of the best signings in Premier League history during a trophy-laden spell at Old Trafford but on the odd occasion, he failed to get his man.

The legendary Scot discussed a number of transfer targets he tried, and failed, to sign for Manchester United in his best-selling book 'Leading'.

Under a section titled the ones that got away, Ferguson speaks about his failed pursuit of then-Marseille striker Didier Drogba, who went on to become a Chelsea great.

"We went to check him out but the club wanted £25 million and Chelsea moved in for the kill before we had made up our minds," said Ferguson, who would later sign a teenage Wayne Rooney for £27 million.

Petr Cech was another future Chelsea player who was previously on the radar of Ferguson, but there was a stumbling block.

"I went to see him in 2003 for Rennes," Ferguson wrote. "We thought Petr was a bit young for the bruisers in the Premier League."

Here are five other players who feature in the book.

Thomas Muller: "He was a ten- year-old when we heard about him. We had him watched and the following day he committed himself to Bayern Munich."

Ronaldo Nazario: "We wanted to sign the Brazilian striker from Cruzeiro in 1994, but we could not get a work permit and he went to PSV Eindhoven."

Sergio Agüero: "His agent was demanding a price we were not prepared to pay."

Lucas Moura: "We offered £35 million but Paris Saint- Germain signed him for £45 million."

Raphael Varane: "In 2011, I hurtled down to Lille. Zinedine Zidane got wind of this and somehow scooped him up for Real Madrid."

Image credit: Getty

A decade later and Varane joined the ranks at Old Trafford from Real Madrid for a fee of around £34 million.

Speaking on the failed move for Varane in his book, Ferguson added: "David Gill was getting into the finer points of the contract with Lens, Varane’s club when Zinedine Zidane got wind of this and somehow scooped him up for Real Madrid from under our noses."

He added: "I don’t think Jose Mourinho, who was managing Real Madrid, had even seen Varane play."