Wesley Sneijder has said that he did come close to joining Manchester United, and the reason the deal did not happen was not financial. Instead Sneijder says he did not want to leave Inter Milan.
“I just felt that it was close, yes,” he said. “We had several talks. The situation was such that Inter had to sell a player, either Samuel Eto’o or me, and indeed there was interest. They [Manchester United] are one of the biggest clubs in the world, so it did not seem a bad thing. But at the same time I do not want to leave Inter. Italy is great for me, and I cannot exclude that they [United] got that feeling. For me a move was not an absolute must and there were a few things which meant it did not happen.”
Sneijder rejected claims the move did not happen because of his £250,000-a-week wages demands and United were only prepared to go as high as £190,000-a-week to land him.
“For me it was not so much a financial issue,” he said. “My feeling was that I was simply feeling very good at Inter. I love the club, but also the Italian culture and the people, it fits me.”
It is pretty apparent looking back that Inter had decided to sell either Eto’o or Sneijder this summer so they could buy new players. When Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala appeared out of the blue with an offer that Inter could not turn down, it changed the dynamics of the Sneijder deal. If the Eto’o dea had not happened, Sneijder would probably be in Manchester today.
