{"id":87067,"date":"2025-07-23T22:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T22:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/87067\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T22:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T22:40:14","slug":"over-my-dead-body-chelsea-hijacked-manchester-united-for-winger-two-months-after-dad-ripped-into-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/87067\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Over my dead body’ – Chelsea hijacked Manchester United for winger two months after dad ripped into ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arjen Robben snubbed Chelsea before performing a U-turn to join the club over Manchester United.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The former Netherlands winger completed a \u00a312million switch to Stamford Bridge from PSV in March 2004.<\/p>\n

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

4<\/p>\n

Robben joined Chelsea in 2004 just months after snubbing them for UnitedCredit: AFP – Getty\"PSV<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

PSV had invited the Blues for talks after Robben had a tour of Old TraffordCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

His transfer was agreed ahead of a summer arrival just months after his dad had publicly slammed the Blues.<\/p>\n

Robben<\/a> had been the subject of a transfer battle between Chelsea<\/a> and United dating back to January of the same year.<\/p>\n

The Dutch side had invited the London club for talks after being angered by United<\/a>‘s approach.<\/p>\n

It came after Robben visited Old Trafford without their permission to meet with Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was give a tour of the stadium alongside extensive talks with the Red Devils.<\/p>\n

Having been identified as the long-term successor to Ryan Giggs<\/a>, Robben’s dad Hans made his transfer stance clear.<\/p>\n

Hans, who also acted as his son’s agent, hit out at then-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich<\/a> in a brutal interview.<\/p>\n

He told the Mirror at the time: “My son will not go to Chelsea. Over my dead body will he go there.<\/p>\n

“They have an owner who has no philosophy or structure at the club. Chelsea just buy expensive players all over Europe and think it will make them a great team.<\/p>\n

“But my son has been to see Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a> and nobody knows better why organisation and a good structure at a top club is so important.<\/p>\n

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

4<\/p>\n

Robben spent three years at Chelsea despite his dad slamming the club in a brutal interviewCredit: Getty\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The Dutch winger won two Premier League titles during his time at Stamford BridgeCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“Old Trafford is the only place he wants to play and if he can’t play there he would rather stay at PSV.<\/p>\n

“In fact he would rather play in their reserves than go to Chelsea. It’s as simple as that.”<\/p>\n

However, Chelsea announced Robben’s signing on a five-year deal just two months later.<\/p>\n

United had remained keen on a move, but saw a reported \u00a35m bid rejected by PSV, allowing their rivals to swoop in.<\/p>\n

After signing for the Blues, Robben explained: “I think I can become a better player at Chelsea and develop myself into a top European player.”<\/p>\n

He went on to spend three years with the club, scoring 19 goals and providing 23 assists in 106 appearances.<\/p>\n

Alex Crook reveals Chelsea are keen to sign Aston Villa star Morgan Rogers <\/p>\n

In that time, Robben won six trophies including two Premier League titles and an FA Cup.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he failed to find the target in his four Chelsea appearances against United.<\/p>\n

Robben was ultimately sold to Real Madrid in 2007 before going on to spend a decade with German giants Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

He retired aged 37 in the summer of 2021 after returning to his boyhood club Groningen for a season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arjen Robben snubbed Chelsea before performing a U-turn to join the club over Manchester United. The former Netherlands…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":87068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[58560,461,25756,44095,3782,58561,58559,221,62,1525,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-87067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-arjen-robben","9":"tag-chelsea","10":"tag-chelsea-transfer-news","11":"tag-man-united-transfer-news","12":"tag-manchester-united","13":"tag-psv-eindhoven","14":"tag-sir-alex-ferguson","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-transfer-news","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114904959392410626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}