{"id":78734,"date":"2025-05-06T09:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T09:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/78734\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T09:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T09:02:11","slug":"manchester-united-tried-to-sign-winger-four-times-before-transfer-and-pay-off-was-instant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/78734\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United tried to sign winger four times before transfer and pay-off was instant"},"content":{"rendered":"

After four years of trying, Sir Alex Ferguson signed Jesper Blomqvist for Manchester United.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The former Sweden winger finally arrived at Old Trafford from Italian club Parma<\/a> in the summer of 1998.<\/p>\n

\"United<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

United wanted Blomqvist for four years before finally signing himCredit: Allsport\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The Swedish winger had an instant impact at Old TraffordCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

However, he later revealed that the Red Devils had been keen to sign him for several seasons before he made the move.<\/p>\n

Blomqvist ultimately joined the club just in time for the greatest season in their history.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his move in 2020, he told the UTD Podcast<\/a>: “[Carlo] Ancelotti got fired [at Parma] and they hired a new coach, and I wasn\u2019t sure if he really wanted me.<\/p>\n

“This was during the summer break, and then Sir Alex came in again for me.<\/p>\n

READ MORE MAN UNITED NEWS<\/p>\n

“He doesn\u2019t just pick a player, he was after me for four years. I felt he wasn\u2019t just looking for a left-midfielder, he wanted me.<\/p>\n

“I felt really strongly, even though I knew the competition from Giggsy [Ryan Giggs] would be really tough. But I knew he had been looking at me for four years, so I knew he wanted me, not just any left-footed midfielder.<\/p>\n

“It was hard to leave Italy, but, in the end, it was the best decision I ever made!\u201d<\/p>\n

Blomqvist enjoyed a dream debut season in England as United went on to win the treble.<\/p>\n

Under Ferguson, they became the first English club to win the Premier League<\/a>, FA Cup and Champions League in the same campaign.<\/p>\n

The success proved that Blomqvist made the right choice in waiting to make the move.<\/p>\n

\"Blomqvist<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Blomqvist started for United in the 1999 Champions League finalCredit: Getty\"He<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

He won the treble in his debut season after signing from Parma in 1998Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Asked if he wished he had joined the Red Devils sooner, he said: “No not really, not with the way it turned out.”<\/p>\n

Despite being an unused substitute in the FA Cup final win over Newcastle, he started the Champions League showpiece four days later.<\/p>\n

Blomqvist played 67 minutes against Bayern Munich<\/a> at the Camp Nou before being replaced by Teddy Sheringham<\/a>, who scored United’s stoppage-time equaliser before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s winner in the dying moments.<\/p>\n

He added: “The way it turned out my first season was the Treble season! For me, even though I had some tough years in Italy, it made me a different person.<\/p>\n

“I know it may seem strange, but for me, coming to Manchester and having the experience coming from Italy, it validated me as a player. People weren\u2019t asking me how I\u2019d got on in Sweden, but in Italy.<\/p>\n

“Even though I\u2019d only been there for two years it gave me more credibility from the people at the club. It\u2019s strange, but it\u2019s the way it works in football.”<\/p>\n

Manchester United legend reveals key Matheus Cunha trait the club is missing<\/p>\n

The wideman went on to make a total of 38 appearances for United, scoring once and providing five assists.<\/p>\n

Blomqvist left Old Trafford after three years to join Everton<\/a> in 2001.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After four years of trying, Sir Alex Ferguson signed Jesper Blomqvist for Manchester United. The former Sweden winger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,38479,2465,98,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-78734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-jesper-blomqvist","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-united","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114460081938482617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}