Robert Lewandowski has revealed that he wanted to join Man Utd

Robert Lewandowski has revealed he was desperate to join Manchester United early in his career after speaking directly to Old Trafford legend Sir Alex Ferguson on the phone, only for Borussia Dortmund and Jurgen Klopp to stop him from making the move. 

Lewandowski started appearing in Poland's lower leagues at the age of 16, landing with Lech Poznan in 2008 and scoring 41 times in 82 appearances in all competitions. 

That paved the way for a move to Germany and Borussia Dortmund, with the young striker a regular in Klopp's side that won the Bundesliga title in 2010/11.

 Although Lewandowski was not as prolific a goalscorer at that stage of his career as he has since become, it seems that Fergie and United quickly saw his potential. 

It was Dortmund's last season and he was 22 at the time, which put him off in July 2011, when United needed a fresh injection up front and would sign Robin van Persie to lead them to the Premier League title next year. ongoing.

  "I remember the exact moment," Lewandowski now recalls in an interview with Sport Bild. "We had a friendly match against Dortmund in preparation, I think against Bochum.

 I was taken down at half-time. I checked my phone in the dressing room. There was a text message from the sender +44. Ferguson tried to call me and then sent me a message. 

He wanted to talk to me. "I was still in the dressing room, I took a shower and called him back, in a calm place. English was not as good as it is today. 

He has a strong Scottish accent. I was very focused to understand what he meant! Alex Ferguson tried to consider, he spoke slowly. "I was 22 years old, it was a special time. I talked to Aki Watzke and Jurgen Klopp in the camp. I wanted to go to Man United! But they said: 'No chance, Robert. We need you.'

A year later, he sent the club to the Champions League final, before moving on a free transfer to Bayern Munich in 2014. 

In Bavaria, he looked better with age and scored 344 times in 375 games. Now, the veteran star is at Barcelona and has shown no signs of slowing down, despite playing for a new country for the first time in 12 years - 27 goals in 34 appearances tells the story. .

 But when Fergie called all those years ago, it wasn't actually the first time an English team tried to buy Lewandowski. Europe's volcanic ash plumes were partly responsible for ruining Blackburn's chances of signing Poznan directly ahead of Dortmund. 

The price, estimated at around 4 million euros, was also an issue for the former Premier League champions, who were relegated in 2012 and have not returned to the top flight until now. A few months after Blackburn were rejected for Lewandowski, Dortmund signed him for €4.5m.

 "I think about him every time I see him play," former Rovers manager Sam Allardyce said three years later. "I think they wanted 3 million or 4 million euros, but we were financially tied at the time to Blackburn.

 I watched him play, but I didn't get the chance to meet him. I think his agent said he couldn't come because of the ash cloud. 

"There were a lot of people looking at him too at the time, but we had everyone else because of the attraction of the Premier League, he could have used us as a ladder but it didn't happen."