There have been a lot of players in the past who have had the opportunity to sign for Manchester United but decided not to join the Red Devils for one reason or another. One of those players is former Inter Milan and Netherlands midfielder Nigel de Jong.

The combative midfielder was once a huge prospect in his career and was being chased by a couple of clubs, including the two Manchester clubs in the English Premier League. United were under the management of now-Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal back in 2014 and in the summer transfer window of that year, the former Ajax manager tried to sign his compatriot and take him to Old Trafford, but he failed.

Van Gaal was joining United on the back of guiding the Netherlands to the knock-out stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament and after the scintillating campaign he and his players had, there were a lot of reports linking a host of those stars with moves to the Red Devils. The likes of Daley Blind, Nigel de Jong, and a host of other stars were linked to Manchester United but in the end, most of them chose to continue at their clubs or decided to move elsewhere.

De Jong has now revealed that United were truly interested in acquiring his services but he felt that he still had a lot to offer his former club and decided that he wanted to spend one more season with them before deciding to leave. The former midfielder did leave his former club after one more season but he did not join Manchester United and he has now revealed that he didn’t have any personal problems with joining the Red Devils seven years ago and admits that maybe his career would have turned out quite differently if he had.