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United turned down World Cup star

James RodriguezManchester United turned down the opportunity to sign Colombia star James Rodriguez for as little as £5m a couple of seasons ago, preferring instead to pursuit other options and, to add insult to injury, ended up signing Bebe – £2m more expensive than Rodriguez and with a fraction of the talent.

United were first approached by intermediaries in 2010, the Guardian reports, when Rodriguez, 18 at the time, was carving out a reputation for himself at Club Atletico Banfield in the Argentine’s first division, having made his professional debut a year earlier when he became the youngest ever foreigner to play in the Argentine top-flight.

Banfield won their first ever title that season and coach Julio Falcioni convinced the youngster he had what it take to succeed in Europe and Rodriguez was offered to United, one of the few Premier League clubs to employ a permanent scout in South America, but the agent never received a response from the club.

A few weeks later, however, United thought well of splashing £7.4m on Bebe, despite the fact that Sir Alex had never seen him playing and that Bebe had only been at Vitoria Guimaraes for five weeks before moving to Old Trafford.

As the Guardian points out, Rodriguez then moved to Porto – with whom he won the Portuguese league and cup double and the Europa League in the same season – for £4m in 2010 but, as it’s common practice with a lot of South American players, 30% of his economic rights were retained by a company – an agreement forbidden under Premier League rules.

Last summer Rodriguez left Porto and moved to Monaco for £38.5m – where a hefty release clause has been included in his five-year deal – and has been the man of the tournament at this World Cup, scoring five goals in four games as Colombia booked themselves a place in the quarter finals against Brazil. United, meanwhile, can look forward to Bebe’s return from loan this month.