Isn't it funny how football turns out sometimes?

There's plenty of near misses when it comes to transfers in football's rich history. Sometimes, it's just not meant to be.

Or, if you're Arsene Wenger, it's nearly always not meant to be.

Back in 2003, it was abundantly clear that David Beckham's time at Manchester United was coming to a close and his celebrity-like lifestyle was getting under the skin of boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

As we all know, the former England captain would move to Real Madrid for €35 million, but a little-known fact is, originally, United had agreed to sell him to Barcelona.

Then Barcelona presidetial candidate Joan Laporta told Marca: "It was between Beckham, Ronaldinho or [Thierry] Henry. United told us that they would sell him to us if we won the [presidential] election as we didn't have the power at that time.

"But they used us and in the end he signed for Madrid. We met at Heathrow Airport and signed a document which said that they would sell him to us if we struck an agreement with the agent.

"However, we didn't manage to do that. We went to Nice and stayed with him and he said he would think about it. We got fed up of waiting on an answer, so we signed Ronaldinho instead."

Wow, Ronaldinho isn't a bad consolation prize is he? Imagine if Becks had gone to Barca after all; the whole landscape of football in Europe would probably have been totally different.

The Brazilian legend would spend five years at the Nou Camp where he managed to secure two league titles, a Champions League crown and two World Player of the Year awards.

Conversely, in Beckham's four years with Real, he would only win La Liga in his final season with the club despite playing alongside a whole host of legendary teammates.

Who would have thought that Beckham would have dictated the next move of Ronaldinho's career at one time? Looking back at it, it's pretty crazy!

It's somewhat poetic the pair would end up as teammates at AC Milan before their careers came to a close.