Robert Lewandowski has revealed how close he came to joining Manchester United in 2012. Sir Alex Ferguson tried to call him, then sent a text from a +44 number after a pre-season friendly in Dortmund, and Lewandowski says he wanted the move. The transfer did not happen because Borussia Dortmund would not let him go.

How Ferguson made contact

Lewandowski said the approach came while he was with Dortmund for a friendly, and that he was substituted at half-time against VfL Bochum. In the dressing room, he looked at his phone and found a message from a +44 number after Ferguson had tried to call him. That was the first sign United were serious about making a move.

He later called Ferguson back from a quiet corner after a shower. Lewandowski said his English was not as good then and that Ferguson had a strong Scottish accent, so he was focused on understanding what was being said. He was 22 at the time and described it as a special moment.

Why the move never happened

Lewandowski’s account is blunt on the key point. “I wanted to go to Man United! But they said: 'No chance, Robert. We need you. You have to stay',” he said, referring to Aki Watzke and Jurgen Klopp in camp.

That is the part United fans will fixate on. This was not a case of a player being uninterested or a club drifting away from the deal. Lewandowski says he wanted it, Ferguson wanted to speak, and Dortmund shut the door.

The outcome also tells you why Dortmund refused. Lewandowski scored 64 goals in the next two seasons, then built a huge body of work under Klopp with 187 appearances and 103 goals. He later joined Bayern Munich in 2014 and Barcelona in 2022. For Manchester United, it is one of those transfer almosts that still feels more significant with hindsight, especially now that Benjamin Šeško sits in the broader striker discussion around the club.

The record books obviously do not show a Lewandowski spell at Old Trafford, but the story shows how close Manchester United came to landing a forward who went on to define a generation in Germany and Spain. For Lewandowski, the memory is still clear. For United, it is another reminder that one phone call can change a striker timeline, and this one went Dortmund’s way.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →