When Wesley Sniejder left Real Madrid for Inter Milan in 2009, reports suggested that Manchester United had been keen to sign him as a potential replacement for Paul Scholes.

Sir Alex Ferguson was later asked about the rumours but our legendary manager distanced himself from the story, conceding that he was a good player but that United hadn’t been in the market for him.

“Sneijder is not the ideal replacement for Scholes,” he said. “He’s a fantastic player but he was not who we were looking for to replace Scholes.”

After four years with Inter, Sneijder left for Galatasaray, with Liverpool one of the clubs interested in signing him.

The Dutchman has revealed today that he rejected their advances in 2013 because he wanted to sign for a club that wins things.

Many clubs wanted to know when I was leaving Inter, and Liverpool was one of those clubs, so people were surprised I chose Galatasaray. Why Galatasaray and not Liverpool? But I am a winner, I play for prizes, so I went to Galatasaray because I thought that I would win more at Galatasaray and be champion than at Liverpool.

I think afterwards that I made the right choice. I have had nice years in Turkey.

Sneijder won two league titles and five other trophies in his four seasons with Galatasaray. Liverpool haven’t won a trophy since 2012.