Bayern Munich winger, Ivan Perisic, has admitted it was “painful” to see his dream transfer to Manchester United collapse in 2017.
The Croatian had seemed all set to link up with Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford, with the Portuguese making the then Inter Milan man a priority.
But the move never happened, and Perisic ended up staying at Inter for two more years, prior to his move to Bayern this summer.
In an interview with The Athletic, the 30-year-old spoke of how much he wanted to link up with Mourinho.
“How close was I going there (United)? Very close.
“It was an amazing thing for me when Jose [Mourinho] called me. It was difficult to say no to him.
“In fact, I really, really wanted to join him and play for United. It was a dream of mine to play in all the big leagues. But it didn’t happen.
“It was painful for me. But I don’t want to go into the details. I only found out myself the real reasons two years later,” Perisic said.