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Alastair Campbell: 'Sir Alex Ferguson rejected Franck Ribery'

By , Reporter
Sir Alex Ferguson turned down the chance to sign a 22-year-old Franck Ribery for Manchester United in 2006, according to an account by Alastair Campbell.

A report has claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson deemed Franck Ribery "not good enough" to play for Manchester United when scouting the Frenchman in 2006.

The revelation is one of a number to be made in the latest set of diaries published by Tony Blair's former communications chief Alastair Campbell, a close friend of the former Red Devils manager.

According to the Sunday Times, Campbell was with Ferguson when a 22-year-old Ribery, then playing for Marseille, faced Bolton Wanderers in a UEFA Cup match in February 2006.

Campbell wrote: "Alex was watching Franck Ribery, the Marseille winger, but decided by half time he was not good enough for United."

Ribery would have one more season with Marseille and in June 2007 he secured a move to Bayern Munich, after also being heavily linked with Arsenal.

Since then, the France international has gone on to win seven Bundesliga titles with Bayern and was part of their Champions League-winning team in 2013.

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Bayern Munich's French midfielder Franck Ribery celebrates scoring during the UEFA Champions League Group E second-leg football match FC Bayern Munich vs AS Roma in Munich, southern Germany, on November 5, 2014
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