Moyes: I wanted Ronaldo, Bale & Fabregas at Manchester United

Former United boss tried for big-name signings.
In his first big interview since being sacked by Manchester United towards the end of last season, David Moyes has told the Daily Mail that he wanted to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas last summer.
The Scot was linked with a whole host of big names during last summer’s transfer window, but endured a frustrating time overall as the club were only able to bring in Marouane Fellaini from his old club Everton on deadline day.
Juan Mata was then signed from Chelsea in January, but by then Moyes’ future at Old Trafford was in serious doubt, and he was dismissed by the club after a disastrous campaign before the 2013/14 season even came to an end.
United’s need for new signings and major investments is still evident after their 2-1 opening day defeat at home to Swansea City under Moyes’ replacement Louis van Gaal, and things certainly could have been very different if the ex-United boss had managed to bring in some of the big names he’d wanted.
Ronaldo remains a United favourite after great success with the club earlier in his career, while Bale and Fabregas were both available last summer – with the latter choosing to stay at Barcelona, and the former making the £85m move to Real Madrid instead.
“We tried to bring players in during the summer transfer window but they didn’t materialise,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t for the lack of trying. It wasn’t indecision. The complete opposite.
“It’s been well documented that we wanted Fabregas, Bale and Ronaldo. There was talk of Ronaldo when I first arrived. We were close to getting a couple of major names. I’m not getting in a blame game here but things just didn’t materialise.”
Moyes added that he had a ‘near impossible’ job at United after being chosen as the man to replace the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.
“It was a step into the unknown and, looking back now, it was near enough the impossible job,” he said. “It was going to take time to evolve. But we were in the process of making other important changes. In the end, I don’t feel I was given time to succeed or fail.”