Five players Manchester United regret not signing

#1 Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane is one of the greatest grandmasters of the game

Give me 10 logs of wood and Zidane and I will win you the Champions League.

Sir Alex dishes out praises moderately, but have you seen him regarding anyone this highly? Debatable. Now that he has said such a thing, who knows, the gaffer could have won perhaps added another two Champions League medals with Zidane in his starting XI.

Scholes, Zidane, Giggs, Keane, Beckham, Cantona. As sweet as it sounds, that music was never heard at Old Trafford.

Ex-United chairman Martin Edwards revealed how Ferguson passed on the chance to sign Zidane in 1996 when the Frenchman was looking for a way out of Bordeaux.

"When Zidane was at Bordeaux, Les Kershaw, the chief scout, was telling me we should be interested in him and I mentioned it to Alex."

"Alex said that Eric [Cantona] had also mentioned Zidane to him but Alex felt Zidane played in the same position as Eric."

“Having gone over to France to persuade Eric to re-sign for us, after the Crystal Palace incident [when Cantona was banned for eight months after clashing with a football fan at Selhurst Park in 1995], he felt that, if he had brought Zidane in, it may have affected Eric's position, so he stuck with Eric."

King Eric retired at just 30 a year later while the mercurial Frenchman had already pledged his loyalty to Juventus. Coming to his achievements, do we even need to discuss them now?

Also, the Frenchman expressed his regret at not lining up alongside United great Paul Scholes in his career. Had that turned into reality, we can only imagine what a deadly combo they would have formed!