United's 2004 shopping list: one was a City legend and the other was Barcelona

What do Gerard Piqué and Vincent Kompany have in common? And Gaby Heinze and Philippe Mexès? And all of them, reputed center-backs, with Alan Smith, an iconic early-century English forward? Manchester United. Piqué (in the Barça quarry at that time), Heinze (PSG) and Smith (Leeds) ended up dressed in red, but not a Mexès (Auxerre) who triumphed in Serie A, between Rome and Milan, or a Kompany ( Anderlecht) that became the watchword of the great rival for the preponderance of Manchester, City. However, the latter could also have ended up at Old Trafford as his other three 'companions', as they were all on Sir Alex Ferguson's list of goals for United in 2004.

The person in charge of the leak was the Twitter portal 'utdreport', which accommodates everything related to the Red devils and that has more than 365,000 followers. The list, which was released in 2019, many years after Ferguson's farewell to the benches, shows an analysis of players divided into four columns. The first two correspond to the squad that at that time, in the 2004-05 season, the Scotsman had under his command.

In the first, the word 'squad' (template) appears, while in the second, it reads 'excess' (excess). In this way, we find that Ricardo, Nicky Butt, Luke Chadwick, Michael Stewart and Diego Forlán had their days numbered at Old Trafford. Three of these names are worth highlighting, the first two and the last. Ricardo made a career in Spain in clubs like Valladolid and Osasuna, but he spent a season in Manchester acting as a substitute goalkeeper. Nicky Butt, on the other hand, is a legend of the club who gave his last blows in the elite. While Forlán would explode after his departure from the Premier and would become a double Golden Boot (Villarreal and Atleti) and the best player in the 2010 World Cup with Uruguay.

Three peripheral signings

The other two sections are divided into 'youth potential' (young people with potential) and 'transfer targets' (transfer objectives). Kieran Richardson, Mads Timm, Phil Bardsley and Chris Eagles are the youth players at the time who, in Ferguson's eyes, had great potential. The last one is the one that corresponds to the five names previously slipped. That season, United would end up losing the Premier crown to Arsenal and it is clear that Sir Alex blamed the woes on the defense, as four of the five candidates are (were) centrals. Three of them ended up arriving (Heinze, Piqué and Smith), although none would make history at Old Trafford. That's the story of a target list that includes a Manchester City legend and a Barça legend, but, curiously, neither from United.