Gareth Southgate must regret £3.5m Middlesbrough transfer miss for Man Utd cult hero - why did he turn it down? | OneFootball

Nani was offered to Southgate and Middlesbrough for a small fee in 2006, but the future England boss turned him down. Why?

Gareth Southgate reportedly spurned the opportunity to sign future Manchester United icon Nani for £3.5m as Middlesbrough manager in 2006, but why?

Before embarking on his career as England manager, Southgate was handed his first opportunity in the dugout as Boro boss in the summer of 2006.

Steve McClaren had just departed the Riverside Stadium after becoming the most successful manager in the club's history, taking the Teessiders on a whirlwind adventure with an FA Cup semi-final appearance in 2001, a League Cup win in 2004, and two UEFA Cup (Europa League) campaigns that saw them lose in the 2006 final to Sevilla.

It truly was the golden era in Middlesbrough's modern history, and now it was Southgate who was tasked with prolonging it. One way to do that is to sign top talent, and one of the first players pitched to him was understood to have been Sporting CP winger, Nani.

Gareth Southgate turns down opportunity to bring Nani to Middlesbrough for just £3.5m

Speaking with Sport.co.uk via Teesside Live in March 2010, football agent Barry Silkman revealed that he'd offered a then 19-year-old Nani to Southgate in the summer of 2006 for £3.5m, but the Boro boss turned the deal down.

Silkman said: “Recently, the biggest one I have missed out on, I saw a player in Portugal a few years ago called Nani.

“I tried to do a deal with Middlesbrough who I was very close to at the time; I did a lot of deals when Steve McClaren was manager.

“I offered Nani to Middlesbrough and Gareth Southgate didn’t fancy him. He was £3.5m. He went to Manchester United for €27m/£17m and it was only eight or nine months later, that’s all it was.”

Southgate did rubbish those rumours following Silkman's claims, saying they were untrue. However, Silkman provided further evidence to back what he was saying, and it involved Man United and Middlesbrough top brass.

Silkman continued: “Manchester United’s chief executive David Gill actually phoned Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb to ask him if that story was true. And Keith Lamb said ‘yeah it is’.”

Manchester United splash out on Nani signing the following summer where he becomes Old Trafford cult hero

Nani would remain with Sporting for the 2006/07 season, where he made 35 appearances and scored six goals in all competitions.

He'd already earned his first call-up to the Portugal national team by that point, and his emergence on the domestic and international stage was enough for Sir Alex Ferguson to splash out £17m on the highly-rated winger in the summer of 2007.

After taking a season or two to warm up at Old Trafford, Nani would burst into life during the 2009/10 campaign, scoring six goals and providing 15 assists in 34 appearances in all competitions.

Over the next two seasons, he would score 20 goals and provide 32 assists in 89 appearances, with his exquisite technical ability, flair and moments of individual brilliance forever earning him a place in the hearts of United supporters.

He would depart the Red Devils in August 2014 after seven years at the club. In that time, he won four Premier League titles, two League Cups, five Community Shields, a FIFA Club World Cup, and he would lift the Champions League trophy in 2008.

Why did Gareth Southgate reject the chance to bring Nani to Middlesbrough for a small transfer fee?

So, why did Southgate turn a deal for Nani down?

Well, with the benefit of hindsight, that seems like a question Middlesbrough fans would be asking whilst brandishing pitchforks, but it's not as simple as that.

At the time of Nani being offered to Boro in the summer of 2006, the young Portuguese winger had only made 30 appearances and scored four goals in senior football.

As such, by the time Man United got their hands on him, he'd had another full season in Portugal's top flight to develop, refine and showcase his talent. Boro weren't afforded that luxury.

On top of that, you have to put yourself in Southgate's shoes. He'd just been appointed to his first managerial role as Middlesbrough boss that very same summer, and there were question marks at the time over whether his appointment was too big of a gamble by chairman/owner Steve Gibson.

When looking at the senior players Southgate signed in his first summer transfer window in charge, there is a common theme: experience.

Julio Arca had played over 170 times for Sunderland before his Boro move. Robert Huth, despite being only 22 at the time, had played over 60 times for Chelsea and was a German international.

Jason Euell hade scored goals and racked up plenty of seasons playing Premier League football with Charlton and Wimbledon respectively prior to his Riverside switch.

Jonathan Woodgate joined on a season-long loan from Real Madrid, having been with Los Blancos since departing Newcastle United in 2004, and prior to that, he'd made 140 appearances for Leeds United.

Understandably so, Southgate wanted players he felt he could trust to come in and help get Middlesbrough moving back up the Premier League table, and Nani didn't fit that profile at the time.

Therefore, looking back on it, will Southgate regret not rolling the dice on Nani? Probably. But was his reasoning for turning him down at the time sound? Yes.