Leaked Man Utd transfer list showed four huge targets and five players called 'excess' but one managed to survive

Manchester United bought and sold relatively well throughout Alex Ferguson's time in charge but they didn't get it all their own way when it came to transfers.

United were in need of improvement in the summer of 2004. After winning the Premier League in 2002-03, Ferguson's Red Devils finished third in 2003-04.

Arsenal's legendary 'invincibles' topped the table that season with Chelsea in second, and the United manager turned to the transfer market to get their plan back on track.

They didn't win the Premier League again until 2006-07 and a leaked document from the time revealed that missing a couple of big defensive targets might have played its part in Man Utd's brief hiatus from top spot.

The leak also showed that five players were labelled as 'excess' and marked for the Old Trafford exit.

With goalkeeper Fabian Barthez already out, Man Utd management listed the full senior playing squad as it stood in April 2004.

Five players were placed in the 'excess' column and four of them were indeed destined to be cut loose.

Six-time Premier League winner Nicky Butt was sold to Newcastle United, where he remained for the next six years either side of a loan at Birmingham City.

Luke Chadwick moved to West Ham United and played on for another decade, taking in Stoke City and Norwich City on the way back to his eventual retirement from local football is his home county of Cambridgeshire.

Michael Stewart, now a prominent and often divisive pundit and co-commentator on Scottish football, was loaned to Heart of Midlothian and eventually returned there permanently despite being sold by United to rivals Hibernian in 2005.

Man Utd weren't able to offload Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo until the end of his contract a year later but they did send Diego Forlan – like Butt, circled in the leaked document – to Spain, selling him to Villarreal.

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But the most telling column might be the final one, which lists four of Ferguson's defensive transfer targets.

Gabriel Heinze was brought in from PSG along with a young Gerard Pique from Barcelona.

Ferguson couldn't secure the two players he wanted to form his new central defensive partnership, however, and one of them ended up leading the revival of Manchester City.

The leaked document identifies Anderlecht's Vincent Kompany and Auxerre centre-back Philippe Mexes as targets but neither would ever play for the Red Devils.

Mexes signed for Roma and later AC Milan, while Kompany arrived at Man City via Hamburg in 2008.

The Belgian scored the only goal of a crucial Manchester derby in 2012, putting City on the brink of their first title since the late 1960s.

Kompany won the Premier League title three more times just as United entered a post-Ferguson era that's left plenty to be desired.

Striker Alan Smith was signed from relegated Leeds United and ultimately converted into a midfielder by Ferguson, who also made the blockbuster signing of Wayne Rooney at the start of the 2004-05 season.