Belgian international reveals real reason behind failed Man United move

He may have seen a transfer to Manchester United fall through back in 2009 but Belgian international Steven Defour has revealed why his Red Devils dream never materialised.

The 28-year-old, now at Burnley of course, recently opened up to Sky Sports while claiming an “open fracture” was the reason why his dream move collapsed.

“Before my injury it [a United move] was one of the possibilities, because I knew they were following me but then came that severe injury and that was quite a hard one from me.

“It was an open fracture of my foot and I was really down because, for the first time, I could have played in the Champions League and then three days before I broke my foot so I was really down.”

While Defour never got to realise his Champions League ambitions with Manchester United, the midfielder did eventually get to play in the top tier of European football with FC Porto where he performed between 2011 and 2014.

One man who was also clearly distraught at Defour’s injury amidst the Red Devils’ interest was also Sir Alex Ferguson who of course wrote a heartfelt letter of regret to the midfielder in September 2009.

Nevertheless, Defour eventually earned his move to the Premier League when signing with Sean Dyche’s Burnley in August 2016 and scoring his first Clarets goal against Hull City last weekend, the Belgian is confident the club can stave off relegation.

“I just want to show my quality to help Burnley and to stay in the Premier League.

“It’s really a group, it’s really a team. It’s a team that really fits together and everybody is working for everybody.”