Cardiff City striker Craig Bellamy has revealed that he turned down the chance to move to Manchester United so that he could complete a loan move to Cardiff City instead.
When the Welshman was playing for Manchester City, he fell down the pecking order due to the money being spent on transfer and he was eventually left seekin a move away from the club.
There were original rumours of a loan-move to his hometown of Cardiff, but for financial reasons, people didn’t think it could be possible and at the time, according to the player himself, apparently City’s main-rivals Manchester United were trying to sign him.
Bellamy, 34, said: “It’s true – my advisor had a conversation with United in 2010, shortly before I came to Cardiff on loan. It was great to feel wanted, and I would have loved to do it – but it was never going to be allowed to happen.
“If Man City had agreed to it, then great. But point-blank they said no, and I never once pushed it. After Carlos Tevez had moved in the opposite direction the year before, I didn’t expect anything to come of it.”
Not only has Bellamy claimed United wanted him, he has also revealed that he rejected a chance to sign for David Moyes during his Everton days.
“When I was leaving Newcastle, David Moyes came down to see me at Celtic Manor and tried to sign me for Everton. He made me feel the most wanted man on earth, saying I would fit in perfectly with the way they played and it became clear that Everton was a really good option for me. A couple of weeks later, I travelled up to Preston to meet him at his house, still intent on joining them, but something had changed – he had this list of rules saying I was to do this and I had to do that, and he was saying, ‘If I do sign you, this is what I expect.’
“It was different to the first meeting we had, and it made me wonder if he was totally convinced about signing me at all. It wasn’t anything to do with lifestyle – it was more like, ‘If I switch you to right wing after 60 minutes, I don’t want you shaking your head.’
“Then Bill Kenwright, the Everton chairman, was on the phone, saying the medical had all been arranged – but I said to my advisor, ‘This doesn’t feel right’ and we called it off.
“A couple of months later, David rang me up and apologised, saying he should have got the deal done, which was very big of him. He tried to sign me again when I was at West Ham, and again when I was at Manchester City and I had a difference of opinion with Roberto Mancini about managing my knee.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
