James Rodriguez has revealed he was previously close to joining Manchester United.
Rodriguez is set to line up against the Red Devils for Everton in Saturday’s Premier League showdown but could have been turning out for them.
The Colombia international reunited with Carlo Ancelotti at Goodison Park over the summer after finally ending a six-year stay with Real Madrid.
However Rodriguez admits that he had the chance to move to United prior to joining the Bernabeu only for the proposed transfer to ultimately fall through.
“I believe it was in 2012,” he told BT Sport.
“The club (United) had offered me something, but in the end that didn’t happen because of some reason I don’t know.
“But well… football always leads you to the correct path, to a team where you can actually play well.
“If it didn’t happen, it was for some consistent reason. Maybe I wasn’t ready for it, or maybe it was because I was made to play in another great team.
“In the end, I had the opportunity to go to France [with Monaco], and that was the path that I could follow.”
Linking up again with Ancelotti has seen Rodriguez enjoy a flying start to his Everton career, scoring three times in his opening seven outings for the club.
The 29-year-old was first signed by the three-time Champions League-winning coach in 2014 before spending time with him at Bayern Munich.
Explaining his rapport with Ancelotti, Rodriguez said: “He’s a very easy-going person, knows how to treat players and how to get the most out of us.
“That’s why he worked along with all those great clubs, and now, with this new project, we expect him to do his best to achieve extraordinary things.
“All the players who have worked with Carlo have spoken highly of him. That means he does a great job in all senses. This is why he has achieved so many things.
“He’s given many things to different clubs, and we hope to achieve the same in this new project. This is a club which has hunger to accomplish big things.
“We’ll hopefully achieve something great within months or years.”