Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has revealed that, at age 13, Manchester United were keen to offer him a seven-year deal.
With United’s ‘Class of ’92’ beginning to rise, Sir Alex Ferguson’s scouts turned to the future Anfield legend as they looked to build on the next generation of Old Trafford stars.
Ferguson caused a lot of controversy as he made the bold statement that Gerrard was ‘not a top, top player’ in his autobiography. But despite this, in 2002 Ferguson tried to sign Gerrard for the second time, again not succeeding. And Gerrard admitted he was “gutted” with Ferguson’s view on the Liverpool idol.
“I’m a huge fan of Alex Ferguson and what he’s done in the game is fantastic, that’s the reason why he’s sold that many copies in the first week, I was generally a little bit gutted when I read that, the reaction of the papers, when he said I wasn’t a top, top player.”
“He tried to sign me in early 2002-2003, he tried to sign me again to play for United, I obviously refused, so I can’t really take it to heart too much. But I’m a bit gutted because I’m a big fan of his.”
The Liverpool captain was again close to leaving Anfield in 2005 and 2006 when Jose Mourinho tried to sign him. “It did turn my head, because big things were happening at Chelsea, they were spending huge amounts of money and at Liverpool at the time we were struggling and my relationship with Benitez was a bit up and down.”
By Phil Wellbrook
