Moyes laments failure to sign star trio for Manchester United- and slams club for losing its ‘traditions’

David Moyes has lamented his failure to sign Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Cesc Fabregas during his ill-fated time at Manchester United in a candid interview just days before he takes current side Sunderland to face his ex-employers at Old Trafford.

Handed the reigns at United following the retirement of predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson, the Scot lasted less than a season before being sacked as the club’s manager, and is set to return to the scene of his managerial nadir on Boxing Day.

Looking back on his time at the north west giants, Moyes bemoaned a series of near misses in the transfer market as part of the reason for his unceremonious departure from the ‘Theatre of Dreams’.

“When I first went in my real target was Gareth Bale,” he told The Telegraph. “I felt all along that Gareth Bale was a Manchester United player.

“The other one was Cesc Fabregas, who we thought we would get right up until the last minute.

“Toni Kroos was agreed to come in the summer. I had agreed it with Toni himself and his agent. Sometimes you don’t get deals done. Gareth Bale, we were probably behind all along, Real Madrid were well in for it.

“The Cesc one was disappointing. It was very close. And Toni Kroos came up in January – it was done.”

Long-renowned as being a club that gives managers a chance to make their mark and develop players, Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 has seen a sea change at United, as the Red Devils plot a different route to success.

Close to £500 million has been spent on players in the last three seasons, with Mourinho the fourth manager to take the reins at Old Trafford since Sir Alex decided to call it a day.

And Moyes feels that this shows that Manchester United are starting to betray their age-old traditions.

“They were a football club who enjoyed traditions with the way they spent” he added. “They didn’t try to compete with all the other clubs. They did what they thought was the right thing to do and spent the right way.

“Maybe that has had to change because of the current situation. [But] Sir Alex [Ferguson] went out and bought wisely and correctly in the transfer market and what he thought he needed to do.”

“I can say that’s gone. There have been a few changes at Manchester United but that’s the way they have chosen to go.”