Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson loved Paolo Di Canio like George Best, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Eric Cantona, but West Ham hero rejected transfer to Old Trafford

Manchester United aren't afraid of signing mavericks and controversial characters - they value ability, desire, and drive in their quests for silverware.

After Eric Cantona retired in 1997, it wasn't quite a mill pond at Old Trafford but by the end of 2001, Sir Alex Ferguson knew they lacked a certain vim and vigour.

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In the late 1990s and early 2000s, English football appeared to inspire the eccentrics and allowed them to flourish.

One man, who in his own words was part angel and part devil, and had, despite a controversial episode with Sheffield Wednesday, become a hero at West Ham, was Paolo Di Canio.

The Italian, who also had one turbulent but successful season with Celtic before arriving in England in 1997, was a public enemy after he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the deck after a red card against Arsenal for the Owls in 1998.

West Ham recognised his talents and manager Harry Redknapp, despite noting his flaws, said: "He can do things with the ball that people can only dream of."

And dream is what Hammers supporters did with Di Canio in the team.

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His addition helped the club to a fifth-place finish in the Premier League, their highest ever in the competition.

And into the 1999/2000 campaign he truly came to life, scoring 16 Premier League goals, including his famous volley against Wimbledon, rightly labelled one of the greatest in top-flight history.

The Hammers were drifting though, despite Di Canio's excellence and a ninth-place finish was followed by them ending 2000/01 in 15th, even with the Italian hitting nine league strikes.

And by December 2001 he was being lined up for a move to another Premier League struggler - not one you might have considered at the time.

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The 2001/02 Premier League season came on the back of three successive titles for Man United, and five in the previous six years.

It wasn't going to plan, though, and despite their famous 5-3 comeback win over Tottenham, a 4-0 thrashing of Ipswich, and another four-goal haul against Everton, an atrocious run of form five defeats in seven, spanning from late October to early December had them ninth in the table.

Fergie knew he needed something specially to help turn his struggling side around. It was meant to be his farewell season but he couldn't go out like this.

One of his famous revolutions was underway, with Ruud Van Nistelrooy, an immediate success arriving, but so did Juan Sebastian Veron, who just couldn't show his talents as he had in Serie A.

Andy Cole left for Blackburn, Dwight Yorke was up for sale, while Teddy Sheringham had gone earlier in 2001. As a replacement, Fergie wanted someone to complement Van Nistelrooy.

So, on Christmas Day he picked up the telephone and tried to sweet talk Di Canio into a move to Old Trafford. And on the call, it's fair both men were taken by surprise.

“I thought it was a joke. I thought it was my friend from Italy," Di Canio told Sky Sports about their chin wag.

“My stomach went a bit because it makes you think you have underestimated yourself, that you are bigger than what you thought.

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“Man United call you, try to persuade you to move because they want you. For a couple of minutes you feel big and strong.

“It was strange for me to say no to Sir Alex. I said ‘thanks, 1000 times thanks, but I can’t. West Ham are the family that warmed to me in the worst moment in my life, I’m the skipper, I can’t.’

“He told me, ‘Paolo, respect for this, I love people that think in this way. You are the man that I thought you were."

The mutual love was clear to see but despite that chat, rumours persisted and the player's representative spoke in the media about a deal in January.

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"As a big player, imagine being a footballer at the end of your career and there is a big club like Manchester United that want you," said his agent Matteo Roggi. "I think almost every player would like to play for one of these teams once in his life and Paolo would love this opportunity.

"Manchester United are involved in negotiations with West Ham and something will probably happen," Roggi said in another interview.

"Mr Ferguson has always been a Paolo Di Canio lover and people might think there is a vacancy because United have allowed Andy Cole to leave."

Instead of the Italian, in came Diego Forlan for £7.5m just days before the deadline to register new players for the Champions League on January 31, 2002.

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Di Canio, though, never quite left Fergie's thoughts and rumours again came about in late 2002 but they were quickly rebuffed

"We haven't made any approach for Di Canio, not since last January," Ferguson told The Times.

"If we had done it last January, it would have been justified and we would have got the benefit of it this season, but not now.

"It's a pity because I think he's a marvellous player."

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Di Canio eventually left West Ham in 2003 after their shock relegation to the Championship and joined Charlton Athletic.

And even at that point Ferguson couldn't help but wonder about the Italian.

"He is a fantastically talented footballer," he observed. "It was a great piece of business by Charlton to snap him up.

"I had a wee think about maybe bringing him here during the summer. I'd looked at signing him a couple of times before but maybe it wasn't meant to be.

"You don't see many guys with that special knack of changing a game with a flash of pure talent.

"He is a very dedicated football and a great trainer. I know he often stays on for at least an hour after everyone else has finished. That's a great attitude to have."

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“Di Canio would have been capable of becoming a truly great player at Manchester United,” Ferguson would later claim when queried about the missed chance.

“I mean, he was a great player. But when you have a player like Di Canio, who expresses himself as an individual, like [George] Best and [Eric] Cantona did, and [Ryan] Giggs, [Wayne] Rooney, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Dimitar] Berbatov do… we make heroes quickly here. Di Canio could have been in that category."

The Italian still doesn't have any qualms about his decision though, despite the temptation to consider what might have been.

“In the end I remained at West Ham and I don’t have regrets about it," he said. "Even if United became the best, won the Champions League, winning the leagues. I would never change winning those leagues for the four and a half years I wore the West Ham shirt.”