Five players Manchester United regret not signing

#4 David Silva

David Silva is affectionately known as Merlin by his fans

This might come as a surprise to a number of United fans. What's more, you will be lost for words when I tell you the reason why Sir Alex Ferguson passed on the chance to sign him.

Fairly speaking, when it comes to recognizing the potential and polishing it, few can do it better than the former United gaffer. However, today when you see how influential David Silva has become at Etihad, the Scot will certainly experience a pang of regret.

Back in 2015, the Scot revealed the reason why he had a particular difficulty in envisaging the Spaniard playing as a No.10 at United. When asked about why he decided against signing Silva, he replied,

"We watched Silva a lot when he was at Valencia. My problem with that was you have to be very, very good to play in that position, because there’s no defensive duties for them. If you’re wanting to be really successful, everyone has to do their turn, has to work, you know? So I had a difficulty with that."

Putting it simply, Sir Alex was dubious about how the playmaker would contribute defensively - the very reason why he pulled out of the race as City landed him in 2010. And, it didn't take long for David Silva to make the Scot rue his decision, when he unleashed his magic in the famous 6-1 humbling of United on their own patch of grass an year later. Since then, he has also won a worthy place amongst the Premier League's greatest ever midfielders.

The United faithful might hate City, but there's no doubt each one of them would have loved to see 'Merlin' joining the red side of Manchester back then.