Many football fans will be aware of the story of the volcanic ash cloud that scuppered Robert Lewandowski’s potential move to Blackburn Rovers – but there was another club in England the striker wishes he had joined.
“To Manchester United I decided and said yes,” he told BBC Sport. “I wanted to join Manchester United, to see Alex Ferguson.”
The prospect of a move to the Red Devils came in 2012, when Lewandowski was scoring prolifically at Borussia Dortmund – and two years after a volcanic eruption in Iceland had put paid to his Blackburn switch.
However, the German club simply did not want to let their talismanic striker go.
“They could not sell me,” Lewandowski said. “Because they knew if I stayed they could earn more money, and that I could wait maybe one or two more years.
“But it is true that I said yes to Manchester United.”
While that move failed to materialise, Lewandowski has enjoyed a stellar career at some of Europe’s biggest clubs, winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich and La Liga twice at his current club Barcelona.
At 37 he has no plans to retire any time soon, but accepts a Premier League opportunity has probably passed him by.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Liam MacDevitt, Lewandowski added: “Maybe it could be a regret [not to play in the Premier League].
“But when I am looking back [having] played for Bayern Munich, Dortmund and now Barcelona I have to say I am very happy with my career.
“I don’t have this kind of feeling that I missed something, because every move or decision… I made because I wanted it.”
