The French international was plying his trade for Marseille when then United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was in attendance to see if he would be a good fit for the Red Devils.

But the Scottish manager decided after 45 minutes he had seen enough and Ribery was not good enough to play for his side.

That is according to Tony Blair's former communications chief Alastair Campbell.

Campbell has released the latest volume of his diaries, in which he describes the evening himself and Fergie watched Ribery's Marseille take on Bolton.

The French outfit were in town for the teams' UEFA Cup clash and Ribery was the main attraction on show, but ultimately failed to impress in a 0-0 draw against Sam Allardyce's side.

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

Ribery was then heavily-linked with a move to Old Trafford once again when Cristiano Ronaldo left for Real Madrid in 2009.

"Of course I thought about a move,” the winger later told German magazine Kicker.

In 2008 or 2009, every big club wanted me: Juventus, Inter, Milan, Barca, Real, Chelsea, Manchester.

“In hindsight, I have to thank Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for speaking regularly to me back then.

"I’ve now been here for 10 years and have won everything.

"My family is doing well and I am happy."

Ronaldo was eventually replaced by Ribery's countryman and subsequent Newcastle United flop Gabriel Obertan.