Roa makes startling Man United admission

Roa was one of a number of options explored by the Red Devils side hoping to replace Peter Schmeichel in 1999.

Sir Alex Ferguson went through Mark Bosnich, Raimond van der Gouw, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Roy Carroll and Tim Howard before finally landing on Edwin van der Sar in 2005.

He could have saved an awful lot of trouble by landing Roa when targeting the Mallorca keeper, but the Argentinean’s retirement at 30 to take a religious retreat due to his fear that the world was coming to an end scuppered those plans.

"At that time, I was very attached to religion and bible study. It was a difficult decision to make but at the same time thoughtful – and my family agreed with me," he told the Daily Mirror.