When Barcelona, Man Utd and Real Madrid tried signing Pele

• Brazil great footballer Pele died on Thursday night after a long battle with colon cancer
• Pele played his entire football career in South and North America and for Brazil national team
• However, there was a time Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid tried signing him

Suppose the attempted negotiations by Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Manchester United to acquire Pele from the Brazilian team Santos had been completed. In that case, they may have altered the path of football history.

By the middle of the 1960s, Pele had already won the previous two World Cups with Brazil, making him an international superstar. He was still young enough, in his mid-20s, to have had a successful career in Europe if the terms of the proposed transfer had been favourable and he had desired to make it happen.

Pele made his Santos debut in 1956 when he was just 15 years old. He started scoring goals frequently at age 16 and, before turning 17, was a Brazil international.

He was unwittingly introduced to the number 10 jersey, which would soon come to represent him at the 1958 World Cup, which launched him on the path to becoming football’s first international megastar.

Pele spent almost his entire career at Brazil based football club Santos. | PHOTO: Larry Ellis |

That prominence and enduring legacy were quickly established, with Santos going on to rule Brazilian club football in the early 1960s and winning back-to-back Copa Libertadores championships after Pele’s second World Cup victory in 1962.

Barcelona

The president of Barcelona, Enric Llaudet, attempted to attract Pele to Catalonia in late 1965 and early 1966, just before he was scheduled to participate in his third FIFA World Cup.

In an interview with Marca at the end of 1966, Llaudet himself discussed it and said that, finally, the financial demands proved to be too great to handle.

“We entered into negotiations with the man who had an exclusive put option on Pele, the Italian Gerardo Sannella,” Llaudet explained.

“On November 14, 1965, the negotiations began, and on February 23, 1966, our friend Sannella told us that signing Pele would cost $1m to transfer for Santos and $200,000 for [Pele]. It was obvious that Pele could not be bought and that Santos simply put him on the market at a prohibitive price.”

There was also the minor issue of the 1953–1973 foreign player signing restriction in Spanish football, which was allegedly implemented in response to a dismal performance at the 1950 World Cup. There were some exceptions, though, and the fascist regime made a point of encouraging certain Hungarian players, including Ferenc Puskas, to relocate to Spain. It is ultimately irrelevant if Pele might have received accelerated Spanish citizenship because of his stature, which enabled him to play.

After losing out on Pele, Barcelona was forced to use another Brazilian, Machado Da Silva, in 1966. Llaudet is accused of acting hastily because of information that suggested the restriction may be lifted earlier than it actually was.

Manchester United

Up until the 1980s, it was exceedingly uncommon to see non-British players in English football, and it wasn’t until the Premier League period that an international and cosmopolitan make-up was appreciated. Even Newcastle’s Chilean international, George Robledo, was born and raised in Yorkshire from age five.

But Manchester United was the only team that had the will and intelligence to sign an international superstar. In 1968, the same year they became the first English team to win the European Cup, they tried just that. At the time, they already had three Ballon d’Or winners in Bobby Charlton, George Best, and Denis Law.

Pele played for the Brazil national team and won three World Cups in his career. | PHOTO: Sky News |

Speaking about the Manchester United links in a 2006 interview with The Guardian, Pele revealed, “I even had a proposal from Manchester United. Yes…1968…their best team. I said no to every team who asked me.”

Inevitably, Pele was well-known to English-speaking viewers. In addition to his previous World Cup triumphs, he also participated in the 1966 competition in England while playing for the Brazil team that was located in Liverpool.

However, United’s strategy was kept under wraps at the time, and not even the players were aware of Sir Matt Busby’s lofty goals until Pele himself revealed them decades later.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid was a club that was frequently interested in signing Pele because of their dominance in the developing European Cup in the second half of the 1950s.

The legend himself attested to this, declaring at one time that he had numerous chances to pack his bags and leave for Madrid but never did.

“There were many times when I was very close to signing with Real Madrid. It’s not a regret. I was at Santos and, at the time, they were a powerhouse.

”I was very, very happy at Santos, I had the best 20 years of my life there. I had plenty of other proposals and not just from Real Madrid, but I was okay where I was.”

Pele eventually stayed with Santos until 1974, when he was 34 years old. His international career had already ended in 1971, but after years of turning down offers from Europe, he did eventually move there before retiring permanently.

The North American Soccer League, which was glamorous but ultimately flawed and short-lived and drew players like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, George Best, and others, was where Pele played his final three years as a professional footballer for the New York Cosmos.