Alexander Buttner has explained how he almost joined Sunderland in 2012.
Speaking to Voetbal, the defender revealed that he could have linked up with Martin O’Neill before he went onto win the Premier League with Manchester United.
Alexander Buttner was very highly-rated during his time with Vitesse and was named as their Player of the Year before he made the switch to Old Trafford.
The defender was named Man of the Match in his first game against Wigan Athletic, however his time in England was quickly considered a disaster as he managed only 28 appearances before he was sold to Dynamo Moscow two years later.
Buttner’s career never really took off after leaving Manchester United, spending a majority of his time back in the Netherlands, as well as a brief stint with New England Revolution.
It was reported prior to his arrival in Manchester, that a fee had already been agreed for hi to move to Southampton before United intercepted. However, Buttner has now confirmed he could well have joined Sunderland too.
“I was eating fries. With my friends and my brother. My agent called me,” Buttner explained.
“It was actually bizarre because a few weeks before I had gone to see other clubs: Southampton, Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers. Actually, I was going to sign for one of those clubs.
“In one of the stadiums of those clubs, there was a Manchester United book. I said to my agent: take a picture of me and that book and we’ll pretend we’re going there. A week later he called me back: Alex, Manchester United.”
Was Alexander Buttner the one that got away – or maybe not?
Alexander Buttner clearly had a lot of talent for Manchester United to buy him eleven years ago, but it never worked out.
The ‘rock-solid’ full-back’s fortunes could have turned out very differently if he joined the Black Cats, where he wouldn’t had the likes of Patrice Evra to compete with. Sunderland went onto sign Danny Rose on loan though, and it would have taken a lot for Buttner to pull off a better spell than the former Tottenham man.
Alexander Buttner is one of a number of names who Sunderland ‘almost’ signed, though there are many that went onto enjoy much more illustrious careers than the Dutchman.
The likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Virgil Van Dijk, Toby Alderweireld and Kevin De Bruyne all spring to mind. Sigh…