The three Dortmund players wanted to sign before Sir Alex Ferguson retired, according to Rene Meulensteen

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Before Alex Ferguson retired from his position as Manchester United manager in 2013 the club were lining up three German stars as potential transfer targets, according to Rene Meulensteen.

Alex Ferguson had kept his retirement plans under wraps and so his staff had begun lining up potential signings ready for a summer approach.

According to Ferguson’s former assistant, the three German targets were Mats Hummel, Marco Reus and Ilkay Gundogan. All three were playing for Ruhr-based Borussia Dortmund at the time.

Ferguson’s decision to call time on his career scuppered any potential deals but it took many of his staff by surprise.

“The fact that he was going to retire or finish came to me and a lot of others as a complete bombshell.

“He was as sharp as ever. He was always an early bird, always arriving early at Carrington. I didn’t read anything in him where it suggested it would be his last season.

“We had very normal staff meetings regarding pre-season. That year we were going to Australia. Sir Alex even mentioned taking us to one of the best vineyards out there. I was looking forward to that!

“We had possible scouting meetings, possible players we were looking at in terms of trying to build a picture of what we think we need. All that was ongoing.”

It was during those meetings where United identified three players in particular that could have added a lot to the squad at the time.

“We looked at a few German players like Hummels, who went to Bayern Munich. I think we looked at Gundogan and Reus, too. There were a number of players but we never got that specific to really target them.”

When United’s most successful manager retired any transfers were put on hold and two of the three players they were looking at ended up moving to other clubs in the subsequent years.

Mats Hummels left Dortmund for Bayern Munich as a World Cup winner in 2016, while Gundogan joined United’s rivals Manchester City in the same summer.

Reus, meanwhile, remains at Signal Iduna Park, but a string of injuries have curtailed his expected progression in what has been a frustrating time for the German.