Wesley Sneijder exclusive: why I didn’t join Manchester United, what Sir Alex Ferguson said, and who has the best chance of winning the World Cup between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

Wesley Sneijder has explained how close he came to joining Manchester United in an exclusive interview with Adventure Gamers.

The Dutchman, who won the treble with Inter Milan in 2010, also revealed he turned down Liverpool, and picked his favourite to win the World Cup in 2026 between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Read the full interview below.

How close did you come to joining Manchester United?

I think it was the season after we won the Champions League at Inter. They wanted to sign me. What I found out many years later is that they were pretty close but there was a problem with the agent.

My father walked into a hotel in Manchester years later and he met Sir Alex Ferguson there. After a certain point they came on to the subject of trying to sign me. That’s how I found out why they didn’t sign me. 

I didn’t know about the problem so for me it was new information unfortunately because Manchester United is a big club. It would have definitely been amazing to add United to my career as well. But it is what it is.

I was also close to joining Liverpool but I preferred Galatasaray. Liverpool were not winning trophies at the time and I love to raise trophies. It’s the most beautiful thing in football to raise a trophy at the end of the season and I felt there were more cultural reasons to go to Galatasaray too.

I was close to United but for different reasons I couldn’t make it happen.

Did clubs like Arsenal or Chelsea ever make an approach for you?

No, Arsenal and Chelsea never came in for me as far as I know. But I always told my manager, don’t tell me about these kinds of things. When I’m happy, I’m happy. It has to be a very special offer that I can’t refuse. Otherwise, don’t tell me anything! 

Do you regret never playing in the Premier League?

No, not by the end, because I had a beautiful career.

Maybe instead of those six months in Nice it would have been nice to experience six months in the Premier League but no I’m okay. I feel good about it.

Benjamin Sesko has named your former teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic as his idol. What have you made of Sesko and his potential to play at that level some day?

There are two different things. You can have an idol and you can have the same qualities as your idol or try to get close to his level. But Zlatan is unique. Zlatan is something different. When Zlatan came to Ajax, I already knew when he was 17 that he would become a big star with his personality too.

But it’s always good to have an idol and to look up to someone and to try to follow his path. That’s amazing. And of course Sesko has qualities but he can never be Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He has to create his own style and become a different, unique version of Zlatan, to try to create other youngsters that want to be you.

Were you ever given the chance to play in Scotland for one of Celtic or Rangers?

Never but if they’d let me play Celtic vs Rangers 18 times in a season like they do then I would have considered it!

It was never a goal I set myself to play in Scotland but I love to watch the Old Firm games. Celtic vs Rangers, for me, was always special with all the Dutch players over there.

Michael Mols, Ronald de Boer and Arthur Numan, they all did a great job there but I never considered it.

Who are your picks for the final four in the Champions League this season?

Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich and Arsenal. 

I love the way Arsenal play. They have a great team. They have a great spirit. Tactically they are very strong. But that’s the problem with Arsenal. They are always good until a certain moment and then they drop back but I think this season they can do something great.

Would Harry Kane have missed out on the FIFA BEST shortlist if he was having this amazing season for a club like Real Madrid or United?

Bayern Munich are a big club as well. Sometimes I just don’t understand these kinds of decisions. Who is making the decisions? Sometimes I’m asking myself as well because it’s stupid. 

But do you think Harry Kane is losing sleep over this decision? Does he have nightmares about it? I don’t think so. He doesn’t care, and he shouldn’t care also. He’s busy with what he is doing with Bayern Munich. He is thinking about the World Cup. He doesn’t care about being picked for FIFA BEST.

Who has the best chance of winning in 2026 between Messi’s Argentina and Ronaldo’s Portugal?

Wow, it is so hard to say!

Portugal have a very strong team. For me they are one of the favourites so then I would say Cristiano Ronaldo has the stronger chance of winning the next World Cup compared to Lionel Messi.

It was a great World Cup for Argentina in Qatar but they were a bit lucky as well. I think overall Portugal are a better team.

If you were playing today would you rather go to MLS like Messi or Saudi Arabia like Ronaldo?

I would do both. I love new experiences. But I have already experienced Qatar so then I would consider MLS over Saudi and it’s very easy for me to pick a city because my son lives in LA. 

I would go straight to an LA team. LA Galaxy has a bigger history but LA FC are new and doing very well. I’m traveling a lot to Los Angeles to see my son so it’s better not to pick one of them!

San Diego have got a team as well but it would be a long drive from LA.

You said you could have been as good as Messi and Ronaldo had you made different choices, which is something people often say of Neymar. Is there something to admire in a player like Neymar becoming great while also having fun in his life outside of football too?

Yes, but we would never know if Neymar could have reached that level. I said that about myself because I was thinking that maybe, if I was living the perfect life off the pitch, I would have been like Messi and Ronaldo. But I’m not sure because I don’t know, and that’s the same for Neymar. It’s the same for Wayne Rooney.

Maybe we needed our lifestyles to be on that level and not be perfect? Maybe that was the maximum for us. Maybe if I was the perfect Wesley Sneijder off the pitch, I would have been amazing but we never know.

I never regret the things that I did. Maybe how I lived my life off the pitch is also what made me strong on the pitch? Maybe I had to do it. It’s my style. It’s my way of keeping my focus. I had a great career. I never got serious injuries. I’m happy with that. 

Everybody’s different, you know? Some players need to work harder. They need to go to the gym every day. I never went to the gym. I wanted to be on the pitch, not in the gym. I’m not a bodybuilder. I’m a football player. That’s what I always said. But for some players, they need it. They need it for the focus. Everybody’s different.

What do you make of Cristiano Ronaldo’s comments to Piers Morgan saying he is better than Messi? Why does he keep talking about it, do you think? Is it building up to the World Cup?

For me it’s always been a stupid argument because they are two completely different players.

Who is better, Johan Cruyff or Pelé? Pelé or Maradona? We shouldn’t compare them. They are both amazing.

You know what I always do? Since I’ve retired, I’ve been asked this question maybe 200 times so 100 times I vote for Messi and 100 times I vote for Ronaldo.

How do you think Ronaldo could react if he passes his 1,000 goals only for Messi to overtake him in a year or two given his form for Inter Miami?

I think that’s the next goal for both of them, 100%.

Cristiano won’t stop before reaching the thousand goals. Messi has signed another two year deal. He will definitely reach one thousand goals as well. 

It’s nice that we are still talking about this rivalry with one in MLS and the other in Saudi. They are two big stars and now they’re chasing a different goal of reaching 1,000 goals. Amazing.

Maybe we see about counting their assists to find out who can get to 2,000 first?

Could we ever see Lamine Yamal in the Premier League?

We speak about whether Lamine Yamal can be Messi one day, well Lamine Yamal at Barcelona is the new Messi. They will never let him go and I think, I believe, that the kid would never want to leave.

He’s been there since he was a youngster and he’s already achieved so much as a first team player. He’s earned a lot of money. He’s a big star of the team. Why would you consider going to England or Germany or wherever else? It doesn’t make any sense.

Maybe he will leave later like Messi did to go and try some new experiences but it is 2025. If we speak again in 10 years time, Lamine Yamal will still be at Barcelona.

Can Yamal reach Messi’s level or even go beyond him to become a better player? It’s possible. Players improve every year and he is already at such a high level.

How long until Wrexham are signing up Dutch players from the Eredivisie who want to be part of their Hollywood story?

I don’t think that will happen because it’s not a story here. We are not talking about it but it can be something interesting, similar to the Kings League.

It’s not just about football but also entertainment and being a star but in a different way so why not?