Manchester United flop Kleberson has revealed how he had an “opportunity” to sign for Celtic before moving to Old Trafford.
The Brazilian midfielder was hot property after he was one of the stars of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning squad and joined Sir Alex Ferguson’s side from South Americans Atletico Paranaense, where he started his career, in a deal worth £6.5 million.
United’s English Premier League rivals Leeds United were also interested at the time and Kleberson, now assistant manager at New York City FC, says his representative told him of the chance to go to Parkhead, where Martin O’Neill was in charge at the time and had just led Celtic to the UEFA Cup final at the time of his move to Old Trafford. The 43-year-old failed to make an impression at Manchester United and, speaking to OLGB, now says: “My agent at the time came to me and told me about Celtic and Leeds.
“For Leeds, the president at Athletico Paranaense told me about Leeds but I'd already agreed with United two months before. For Celtic, I remember reading a story about how they wanted to sign me but there was nothing on paper and I didn’t hear anything from Athletico Paranaense. I don't know if it was true or not but when I was training, I remember my agent saying there was an opportunity to join Celtic, a club in Scotland. But the bigger interest was Leeds and Man United.”
Kleberson played alongside a player who did join Celtic in legend Roy Keane. And Kleberson revealed how the uncompromising Irishman gave him the hairdryer treatment early in his Old Trafford career. He said: “It’s true Roy Keane called me out in the dressing room in one of my first games.
I saw the interview with Eric Djemba-Djemba, where he says Keane called me out. But my English at that time was horrible, I couldn't understand anything. I tried to understand what Keane said, and I didn't have anything to protect myself and say something. I was thinking, ‘go win a World Cup before talking to me’.
“But I didn't have any English to argue back. It's kind of funny now because I understand what Roy Keane did at the club, the passion he has, the winning player inside him. He’ll push you and you need players like that. United had some big players like Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes at that point too, they were really leading the team. Keane on the field was really good but those two on the field also acted like captains, and were a big part of the club.”
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