Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Alex Ferguson feels that he failed to get the best out of returning attacking midfielder Shinji Kagawa, as reported by the Daily Mirror.
Kagawa resigned for the German club, who finished second in the Bundesliga last season, after Louis van Gaal decided that he was surplus to requirements at the Old Trafford club this summer.
Ferguson brought Kagawa in when he was regarded as one of the most exciting midfield prospects in European football, but he failed to impose himself on Man Utd’s first team while he was at the club, never truly cementing a place in the first team while he played for them.
In 38 appearances for the Manchester club, Kagawa only scored six times, which, when compared to his previous record for Dortmund, shows the extent to which he failed to settle.
Ferguson himself seems to have regretted the manner in which he developed while at Man Utd, and Klopp recounted their encounter.
The German boss said: “I met Sir Alex in Nyon and he’s still in love with Shinji. He told me, ‘Shame we didn’t manage this well so that it worked out for him. We were satisfied in the first year’.
“And in the second year you usually make the next step but he didn’t manage to do it. But Sir Alex was saying ‘Shame we should have made this work’.”
Kagawa marked his return to Dortmund with a goal against SC Freiburg this weekend.
