Quinton Fortune appeared on a recent edition of the official Manchester United podcast where he revealed his reaction to hearing that the Red Devils were interested in signing him.
After spending some time in Tottenham Hotspur’s youth academy, Fortune moved to Spanish side Mallorca in July 1995 before moving to Atletico Madrid soon after in January 1996. The former South Africa international went on to spend four years at Los Rojiblancos before returning to England when he moved to Manchester United in January 2000.
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As per Transfermarkt, despite spending four years as an Atletico Madrid player, Fortune had made just eight appearances for their senior squad before departing to join the Red Devils in 2000 and during his recent appearance on the official Manchester United podcast, the South African revealed his reaction to hearing of United’s interest in signing him.
Sam Homewood, who hosts the podcast, raised the topic of Fortune’s move to Old Trafford during this podcast, asking him how the move came about and how he reacted to the club’s interest, saying: “Presumably, it was somewhere between very exciting and maybe a bit of pressure because United had just won the treble.”
Fortune replied to Homewood, saying: (59:30) “Yeah, I’m watching the game in Madrid with my agent then, the guy who’d brought me over [to Spain] and he’s talking about ‘oh, there’s a possibility of going to United’ and I’m like – ‘How?’ – I’m thinking like, you’ve got to be kidding me.
“Because when I played in France ‘98, there were big talks about PSG, [they] actually came to our hotel and they wanted to sign me to go to play for PSG and I was like – okay, I’m ready to do the deal, speak to the club and everything, but I don’t know what happened there.
“So now, he talks about United, I’m like – how in the world? We’re watching these guys winning the European Cup – won everything, and even when I told my teammates they were laughing at me like – ‘Yeah, when are you going to United?’ But it actually happened!”
Was Quinton Fortune an intelligent signing for Manchester United?YES, HE WAS A SMART SIGNING
NO, HE WAS A SILLY SIGNING
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TIF Thoughts…
Considering that he had made just eight appearances for Atletico Madrid’s senior squad prior to joining Manchester United in January 2000, it may be understandable why Fortune and his teammates were in disbelief when the South African player’s agent informed him of interest from the previous season’s UEFA Champions League winners, however, as he says, it did actually happen and Fortune went on to make a total of 126 appearances for United’s senior squad during his time at Old Trafford, showing that the Red Devils may have seen something in him despite his lack of first-team game time in Madrid.