Robert Lewandowski ‘couldn’t say no' to Sir Alex Ferguson – but Man Utd move was blocked

Robert Lewandowski was on the verge of joining Manchester United in 2012 after agreeing to a move in a phone call with Sir Alex Ferguson, but the deal ended up falling through. The prolific Polish marksman, now 36 and still banging in goals, exploded onto the scene with Borussia Dortmund in the early 2010s.

After smashing 30 goals in all competitions in the 2011/12 season, many of Europe’s biggest clubs were queueing up to sign him. It looked like United would win the race after Ferguson’s phone call, but Dortmund eventually blocked the deal.

“I remember one conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson, you know, for example. That was 2012,” Lewandowski told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, brought to you by Qatar Airways. “I remember the conversation… [it was] before pre-season… I knew that he’s going to call to me.”

The prospect of talking to the legendary manager had Lewandowski brimming with nerves. “[I was] very [nervous],” he said. “I knew what I should tell him, you know. Yeah, of course, I want to join Manchester United, yeah. Can you repeat again? Yes, yes, of course, of course.”

Ferdinand asked why the move collapsed, to which Lewandowski replied: “Ask the club, you know… I remember also the conversation with the president of Dortmund. He said to me, they need me. They’re not going to sign me to Manchester United because I’m so important for them, and it’s not the perfect time now.

“So, yeah. But that time I said yes, yeah, that’s true. I said yes to join Manchester United because if Sir Alex Ferguson calls you, you cannot say no, you know. Especially when I was 22 or 23 years old. And, you know, that time I was playing for Dortmund. Even, you know, I was happy, but Manchester United are like the prime of Manchester United, you know.”

Lewandowski ended up staying at Dortmund for two further seasons before making a contentious switch to Bayern Munich on a free in 2014, after having scored over 100 goals in four seasons at the Westfalenstadion. At Bayern, he took his goalscoring exploits to staggering new heights, bagging 344 goals in eight sensational years, averaging just under a goal every game.

He surpassed the 40-goal mark in seven out of eight seasons at the Allianz Arena, and scored 50 or more in two of them. He also clinched 19 major honours, including eight successive Bundesliga titles, three DFB-Pokal titles and the Champions League.

Barcelona snapped him up in 2022 on a free transfer amid rumblings of discontent between Lewandowski and Bayern bosses. In the two-and-a-bit years since, the Poland international has scored 78 times, and helped the Catalan club land the La Liga title – their first since Lionel Messi’s departure – in 2022/23.

Despite the disappointment of missing out on a player who quickly blossomed into one of football’s finest centre forwards, United struck gold with ‘Plan B’. A few weeks after the Lewandowski move collapsed, the Red Devils secured the signature of Arsenal’s Robin van Persie, who not only played a pivotal role in reclaiming the Premier League title from rivals Manchester City in his first season at Old Trafford, but also bagged the Golden Boot award.

However, Van Persie’s impact faded rapidly after Ferguson’s departure in 2013, prompting United to launch a lengthy, and mostly unsuccessful, search for a worthy successor. In the last decade, the club have spent over £230million on new strikers such as Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial, Rasmus Hojlund and Cristiano Ronaldo, and in that time, Lewandowski has scored 488 goals for club(s) and country.

Had the Red Devils landed him instead of Van Persie in 2012, the trajectory of the post-Ferguson era could have been significantly altered.

Listen to the full Rio Meets Robert Lewandowski interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.