Leaked Man Utd transfer list showed four key targets and five players labelled 'excess'
A leaked document once showed a list of Manchester United transfer targets, revealing FOUR players Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign.
Before the 2004/05 season, a Man United transfer was leaked following the sale of Fabian Barthez to Marseille back in April 2004.
The Red Devils had failed to defend their Premier League crown in the previous campaign, having succumbed to Arsenal's 'Invincibles'.
But preparations for the new season didn't get off to the best start as Ferguson wasn't able to secure all his ideal transfer targets.
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According to the leaked list, the Scot had five targets in mind, three of which were actually snapped up during the summer of 2004.
The sheet also contained a list of every player in the senior squad, including those that were deemed as 'excess' by the manager.
The 'excess' column contained the likes of midfielder Nicky Butt and forward Diego Forlan, who were both circled on the sheet.
And there was a 'youth potential' section, which featured the likes of David Jones and Chris Eagles as well as Dong Fangzhou, who had joined the club in January.
That column also included goalkeeper Tom Heaton, who's the only player on the entire list to still be registered as a Man United player today.
And the final section belonged to Ferguson's transfer targets, of which four were defenders.
He successfully acquired Gabriel Heinze from Paris Saint-Germain and Gerard Pique from Barcelona, with the latter earmarked as a youth signing.
Alan Smith also joined the Old Trafford outfit, having made the controversial switch from Leeds United.
His other two defensive targets were Philippe Mexes and Vincent Kompany, who stayed at Anderlecht.
Mexes joined AS Roma from Auxerre in June 2004 and spent seven largely successful years there before his move to AC Milan.
Kompany, on the other hand, made the switch to Hamburg in 2006 before moving to Manchester City, where he became a club legend.
Man United, meanwhile, went a further two seasons without winning the league before ending their title drought in the 2006/07 season.
Nasir Jabbar