Wayne Rooney has named the three clubs that he turned down after submitting a transfer request at Manchester United in 2010.
Rooney publicly declared his intention to quit United in October 2010 over concerns that United could not attract the players needed to win more major trophies.
The then 24-year-old stated that he told United that he would not sign a new contract, which expired in 2012.
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He said: "For me it's all about winning trophies - as the club has always done under Sir Alex. Because of that, I think the questions I was asking were justified."
Soon afterwards, Rooney would perform a U-turn after further talks with manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and signed a new contract until 2015.
Now, nearly 15 years on from the saga, Rooney has revealed the identity of the three clubs that tried to sign him after he put in a transfer request.
In a column for BBC Sport, he wrote: "The teams who made an approach were Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
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"In my head, I was ready to go and play in Spain and some talks did take place.
"A deal with Real looked more likely for a couple of days, but it was Barcelona whom I thought about the most, and how I might fit into their side alongside Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets.
"In the end I decided to stay at United, but Barca had an incredible team then and any player would have loved to have played in it."
Had Rooney moved to Real, he would have re-united with his former United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, who had signed for Los Blancos for a then world-record fee of £80 million a year earlier.
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He would come up against Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley, which Pep Guardiola's side lost 3-1.
Rooney did score to make it 1-1 in the first half, but Barca dominated the match amid one of Messi's greatest ever performances that saw him score and win the player of the match award.
Ryan Smart