Rio Ferdinand reveals he wanted Luka Modric at Manchester United

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has opened up on his attempts to lure Luka Modric to Old Trafford.

Modric has established himself as one of Real Madrid’s finest ever players across a trophy filled decade in the Spanish capital.

After joining Los Blancos from Tottenham Hotspur in 2012, Modric has gone on to make an incredible 454 appearances across all competitions, at the heart of the Real Madrid engine room.

Modric’s quality and poise developed him into a world class star in Madrid with the Croatian international winning three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues.

However, his time with Tottenham was filled with transfer speculation, and Ferdinand claimed he was on a list of United transfer targets, during his time with the Red Devils.

“I spoke to him before he went to Real Madrid…. I used to think I could sign any player that was available”, as per reports from Marca.

“I spoke to Modric and asked him – ‘Are you leaving Tottenham?’ And he replied: ‘Yes, I think I’m going’.

“But at that moment I wasn’t sure where he was going.

“I told him – ‘You should come to United,’ and he said ‘I want to be the first Croatian to play for Manchester United, can we make it happen?

“I think United already had something in hand with another player and they closed the deal and then Modric went to Madrid, and the rest is history.”

Ferdinand also revealed he spoke to a string of potential transfer targets about joining United, including La Roja international Thiago Alcantara, before he joined Bayern Munich in 2013.