‘Man Utd tried to signal me – my dream transfer failed however I nonetheless have copy of fax’
A former Manchester United goal has opened up on his remorse of the switch falling by.
Goalkeeper Luigi Turci emerged on Sir Alex Ferguson‘s radar because the Red Devils’ hunt for a third-choice shot stopper in the summertime of 1999 headed to Italy. Mark Bosnich had already been signed as back-up to treble-winner Peter Schmeichel.
They initially approached Parma, the place a younger Gianluigi Buffon was impressing between the sticks. But after the longer term legend turned them down, consideration switched to Udinese’s Turci.
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Speaking on TV Play’s Twitch channel, he recalled: “In 1999-2000, Manchester United made an offer to Udinese to sign me, but unfortunately Udinese had already presented the UEFA [squad] list and Ferguson took Taibi in my place.
“United were looking for an Italian goalkeeper: the first to be contacted was Buffon, but he refused. The second was me, but the times didn’t match. To this day I regret that missed transfer, I have a copy of the fax on my phone.”
Massimo Taibi signed from Venezia as a substitute, spending simply the solitary season at Old Trafford wherein he made solely 4 appearances – together with his notorious recreation towards Southampton the place Matt Le Tissier’s shot squirmed by him.
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(Image: Getty Images)
Turci by no means did depart Italy throughout his taking part in days consequently, taking part in a complete of 271 Serie A video games between 1993 and 2004 and ending his profession with spells at Sampdoria and Cesena. He’s now goalkeeper coach for AC Milan.
While he regrets not getting the transfer, United will probably be kicking themselves that they did not safe Buffon as hoped. The World Cup winner revealed their curiosity in a 2019 interview with BT Sport.
“When I was a boy playing for Parma, Ferguson tracked me closely for two or three years,” Buffon informed Rio Ferdinand. “He’d always send scouts to watch me. At the time, Parma was my world. And I didn’t feel like leaving.”
