{"id":537381,"date":"2026-04-18T07:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537381\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T07:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T07:27:12","slug":"joining-chelsea-over-man-utd-is-my-biggest-regret-my-wife-didnt-want-to-go-to-manchester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537381\/","title":{"rendered":"Joining Chelsea over Man Utd is my biggest regret \u2013 my wife didn’t want to go to Manchester"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turning down Manchester United for Chelsea due to his wife’s desire to avoid living up north ended up being a significant regret for the legendary midfielder\"Emmanuel<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Petit regrets one transfer move in his career(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Petit was poised to return to England and came close to signing for Manchester United<\/a>, but ultimately chose Chelsea <\/a>instead. The two sides go head-to-head on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

United are looking to bounce back after suffering a 2-1 loss to Leeds earlier in the week, and Chelsea also coming off the back off a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City<\/a>. While Petit only represented one of the Premier League<\/a> giants, he had long harboured a desire to play at Old Trafford – but opted for the Blues when the moment arrived.<\/p>\n

This choice turned out to be one of his greatest regrets after he decided to head back to London to keep his wife happy. Petit spent three seasons at Arsenal<\/a> in the late 1990s, claiming both the Premier League<\/a> title and FA Cup<\/a> before departing for Barcelona<\/a> in 2000.<\/p>\n

Following a difficult debut season in La Liga<\/a>, the defensive midfielder was strongly linked with a return to England. Tottenham<\/a>, Chelsea<\/a> and United were all said to be keen \u2014 yet the most appealing prospect for Petit<\/a> was a move to Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE: Casemiro’s leaked text message to agent about state of things at Man Utd speaks volumes<\/a>READ MORE: Man Utd facing huge crisis for pivotal Chelsea clash ahead of FA punishment<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite this, the now-55-year-old revealed in his 2015 book – Franc-tireur (Maverick) – that he failed to follow a “sporting choice” when returning to England. Petit said: “I made a lifestyle choice to the detriment of the sporting choice.<\/p>\n

“And on the rare occasions that I’ve made that choice, I’ve got it wrong. It was the same thing when I left Barcelona to go back to Chelsea.<\/p>\n

\"Emmanuel<\/p>\n

The Frenchman had already spent time in London with Arsenal(Image: Mark Leech\/Offside via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“I gave priority to the social life in London when [Sir Alex] Ferguson expected me to sign for Manchester United. My wife didn’t want to go to Manchester. I’m really annoyed at myself – I should have insisted upon my decision.”<\/p>\n

Petit was married to Agathe de La Fontaine at the time, though they divorced in 2002 and share one child, Zoe. The France international is now in a relationship with Maria Servello, with whom he shares another child, Violet.<\/p>\n

Petit acknowledged that his switch to Chelsea wasn’t what he desired at the time and had instead planned a move to Manchester. While his first season with the Blues proved difficult, the former midfielder did enjoy some success at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n

He developed a solid partnership with Frank Lampard<\/a> during the 2002\/03 campaign, netting twice and providing four assists across 31 appearances as Chelsea clinched Champions League<\/a> qualification by finishing fourth.<\/p>\n

\"Emmanuel<\/p>\n

Petit wanted Manchester over a return to London, but his wife disagreed(Image: Stu Forster\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

However, had he spent the rest of his playing days at United, Petit would hypothetically have accumulated more silverware. He would have claimed another Premier League crown and another FA Cup.<\/p>\n

After battling with injury problems, the ex-Arsenal star hung up his boots in 2005, having turned down the opportunity to join Bolton Wanderers and prolong his career.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the time, Petit said: “I was spared by injuries for most of my career but unfortunately I have had to undergo three operations within a year. Overall I’m very proud of my career.”<\/p>\n

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Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turning down Manchester United for Chelsea due to his wife’s desire to avoid living up north ended up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[22444,398,119292,218,30301,1441,221,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-537381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-alex-ferguson","9":"tag-chelsea-fc","10":"tag-emmanuel-petit","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-frank-lampard","13":"tag-manchester-united-fc","14":"tag-premier-league","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}