As far as World Cup winners and Leeds United players go, there’s only two that fall into the category.
Those two are Jack Charlton and Norman Hunter are the only two players to have won the World Cup whilst playing for Leeds United, doing so with England in 1966.
There’s been plenty others who’ve played at a World Cup whilst playing for the Whites, but Charlton and Hunter are the only to have lifted the golden trophy.
In 2002, Brazil won the World Cup. It was an iconic side at the time and one that goes down in footballing history. As it goes, there’s a player who won that World Cup and then had options to join either Leeds United or Manchester United in 2003.
That player was Kleberson who Leeds fans might recall played for Manchester United, albeit briefly. And the Red Devils have Ronaldinho to thank for the signing.
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How Ronaldinho tricked Kleberson into joining Manchester United ahead of Leeds
Speaking in an interview in 2019, Kleberson shared the funny story of how legendary Brazilian international Ronaldinho told him to join Manchester United, whilst having links to Leeds United at the time.
Kleberson told FourFourTwo: “There were two clubs interested in signing me: Manchester United and Leeds. It was an easy choice, but there’s a funny story about it, too.
“When [Manchester] United’s interest in me was confirmed, I was with the national team in France for the FIFA Confederations Cup. I can remember it clearly: I was with Ronaldinho and his brother/agent, Assis. Ronaldinho said, ‘They want to sign both of us’. I said, ‘OK, let’s go, then!’
“I was so glad that he would be coming with me. I went back to Brazil and kept negotiating with United, but then Ronaldinho fooled me and went to play in the warm weather at Barcelona! He sent me to Manchester.
“That’s a joke between us until today. He knows that he owes me one.”
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Who are Leeds United next in action against?
The days of signing World Cup winners might be far away for Leeds. But if they can earn promotion to the Premier League this season then they’ll be a step closer to those days for sure.
Daniel Farke has the Whites in 1st place of the Championship table following a convincing 4-0 win over Watford on Wednesday night, with two goals from Dan James, then one each for Manor Solomon and Joel Piroe. Next up is a home game against 4th place Sunderland on Monday, before a trip to 2nd place Sheffield United on the following Monday.
Kleberson went on to have a good career but didn’t last long at Manchester United, spending two years at Old Trafford before moving to Besiktas in 2005. Who knows how the story might have panned out if he moved to Elland Road instead. Because of Ronaldinho, we’ll never know.
Now 45, Kleberson is the assistant manager at New York City FC.
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