Barcelona manager Xavi has revealed just how close he came to joining Manchester United during his playing career.
Xavi spent 17 seasons as a player at Barcelona and is second on the Catalan club's all-time record appearance list, behind only the great Lionel Messi.
Xavi won eight La Liga titles during his time at the Nou Camp as well as four Champions League trophies, with two of those victories coming in finals against Manchester United.
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But things could have turned out to be very different for midfielder, had he accepted an offer to move to Old Trafford early on in his career.
Former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson attempted to sign Xavi but was unable to convince him to leave his boyhood club.
Xavi: I thought about moving to Man Utd
ESPN journalist Graham Hunter says Xavi spoke to him in 2011 about the proposed transfer, with his comments resurfacing this week ahead of Barcelona's Europa League play-off tie against United.
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"There was a long time when I genuinely thought about accepting United's offer," Xavi told Hunter.
"I needed a change of scenery and things were not going well for me at Barcelona.
"I have always felt a real attachment to English football and Manchester United would be 'my club' there.
"For a long chunk of my career, when it looked to people like I was Pep Guardiola's successor in midfield, I was made to feel, by some, like an outsider, like a bad guy for taking over from the legendary captain.
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"We are not good at handling change here [at Barca]. I hated all that debate about 'me and Pep,' and Louis van Gaal [then-Barcelona manager] wasn't particularly tactful to put an 18-year-old kid through it.
"What eventually made the difference is that I'm as stubborn as a mule: I thought about moving to United, but I dug my heels in. I said to myself 'I need to prove myself here!'"
Xavi has impressed since his appointment as Barcelona manager in 2021.
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He has guided the team to the top of La Liga this season in his first full campaign in charge, with the Catalan club currently 11 points clear of bitter rivals Real Madrid.
His immediate focus, however, will be on the Europa League play-off tie against United.
The Nou Camp will host the first leg on Thursday, with the reverse fixture at Old Trafford taking place the following Thursday.
Topics: Xavi, Barcelona, Manchester United, La Liga, Football, Europa League
Rory O'Callaghan