Forward reveals he was approached by Manchester United – Decided to ‘accept call’ elsewhere instead

Inter, Genoa, Cagliari, Atalanta, Bologna…

These are some of the clubs Robert Acquafresca, currently without a job, has played for over his 14 years as a professional footballer, only venturing out of Italy once for a six month loan to Levante in 2013.

However, according to the player in an interview with Calciomercato, he could have ended up at Manchester United.

Don’t worry, the Old Trafford side aren’t *that* desperate for offensive reinforcements these days that they’d go for a free agent who only made nine appearances for FC Sion between 2017-19, but back in the day, they had some interest.

By that, we mean just after 2004.

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We’ll let the 32-year-old explain: “Manchester United wanted me? Yes, when I was released after Torino’s bankruptcy. It was the period when English clubs were fishing in Italy. [Arturo] Lupoli and Giuseppe Rossi had just gone to the Premier League and United were interested in me. However, as an Inter fan, I had decided to accept their call instead”.

As careers go, the trio of Rossi, Lupoli and Acquafresca all had very similar ones, starting off promisingly with transfers to big clubs before dwindling in their latter years.

The former Manchester United man saw his plagued by injuries, and is currently without a club, while Lupoli signed for Arsenal and then bounced around many, many clubs, and is now at Virtus Verona in Serie C-B.

Unfortunately, Acquafresca’s move to Inter didn’t work out for him, and he never played, pushed to one side by Mourinho ‘because he didn’t want players who had scored against his team’.