Steven Defour has admitted that he was crushed when injury prevented him from joining Manchester United under former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Red Devils were tracking Defour in 2009, but after the Belgium international broke his right foot, a transfer failed to materialise.

Defour received a letter from Ferguson, in which the Scotsman wished the midfielder a speedy recovery.

"Before my injury [a United move] was one of the possibilities, because I knew they were following me, but then came that severe injury and that was quite a hard one for me," Defour told Sky Sports News.

"It was an open fracture of my foot and I was really down because, for the first time, I could have played in the Champions League and then three days before I broke my foot so I was really down. It was difficult to find my form before my injury to have the level of a club like Manchester United."

Defour did eventually get a move to England, but this time it was from Anderlecht to Burnley, who paid a club-record £8m in August.