Cape Town - New Bayern Munich signing Mats Hummels has hinted he would have joined Manchester United if they were able to offer him Champions League football.
The Germany international will rejoin his boyhood club after Euro 2016, having spent nearly a decade with arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund, where he won two Bundesliga titles.
Hummels was often linked with moves away from Germany since being considered one of the finest defenders in the world, but he has revealed why he opted to stay put in his native country - to work under Carlo Ancelotti next season.
"Fundamentally, England, Spain and Germany were the relevant leagues I could see myself playing football in," the 27-year-old defender told reporters.
"But at this stage there just was not that one English club where the overall package was fitting.
"The overall package means: a club which fascinates me; a club I have always wanted to join, and where the sporting constellation is right, and which of course plays Champions League football next season.
"And because of the latter one club was ruled out, and you can envision which club that was."