Serbian star Dušan Tadić moved to the Netherlands in 2010 and spent four seasons in the Eredivisie with Groningen (2010-12) and Twente (2012-14) before signing for Southampton in 2014.
That summer, the Saints appointed Ronald Koeman as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor and the former’s compatriot, Louis van Gaal, agreed to manage Manchester United.
Having managed 16 goals and 14 assists for Twente in the 2013/14 season, the forward had attracted interest from the Red Devils and Southampton and both the Premier League clubs then wanted to acquire the 31-yer-old’s services.
Voetbal International interviewed his father, Petar Tadić, who expressed his disappointment after his son decided to pick Southampton over United in 2014.
“Dusan could go to Manchester United and Southampton. I wanted him to go to Manchester, to Louis van Gaal. But Dusan wanted to go to Ronald Koeman. We couldn’t work it out together,” Peter said.
“Manchester United have always been a top club. I was a fan of Bobby Charlton, George Best, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes… They have always had top players. Even now things are going less well, I still love Manchester United.
“That’s why I was really mad at Dusan. We talked about it all evening, but in the end, Dusan said he would choose Southampton anyway. “
Tadić failed to replicate his Eredivisie form for Southampton and after spending four seasons in England, he joined Ajax in 2018. In the past 18 months, he’s managed 48 goals and 41 assists in all competitions for the Dutch champions.
