Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has spoken highly of the impact that one Manchester United legend had under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the best managers of all time and had a long-lasting impact on English – and world – football during his time at Manchester United.
The legendary former United manager left Aberdeen in 1986 after a trophy-laden spell in Scotland and replaced Ron Atkinson at Old Trafford.
Ferguson overcame a tough start to life at the Red Devils before ushering in a period of dominance for United in the top-flight domestic league in England.
The 82-year-old Scotsman engineered all 13 of United’s Premier League titles, with Ferguson also lifting five FA Cups and four League Cups with the Red Devils.
Ferguson also became the first manager in history to lead an English club to a continental treble, with United completing the feat in the 1998-99 season.
The Aberdeen and United legend bowed out of Old Trafford at the end of the 2012-13 season after capturing the Red Devils’ last Premier League title.
Carragher on Ferguson and Man Utd legend
Jamie Carragher appeared on The Overlap alongside Manchester United legend Paul Scholes and David Ornstein to discuss the best and worst transfers.
The Athletic reporter David Ornstein believes that the best Premier League transfer of all time was when N’Golo Kante signed for Leicester City in 2015.
Leicester City snapped up N’Golo Kante from Caen for a fee of around £5.6m and the French midfielder played a key role in the Foxes’ Premier League title win.
Carragher agreed with Ornstein about the impact of Kante, who went on to lift the Premier League title and Champions League trophy with Chelsea.
However, the Liverpool legend admitted that he still thinks United legend Eric Cantona is the best Premier League signing of all time.
“I would’ve always said Cantona, but when you’ve just said Kante then, you do think about it don’t you? Winning the title with two teams,” Carragher said.
“Obviously, Cantona did that too with Leeds, then he moved to United. I’d probably still go for Cantona above Kante actually, thinking about what Man United became.
“It became a monster in terms of revenue and money.”
Cantona’s impact at Man Utd under Ferguson
Eric Cantona lifted a First Division title with Leeds United in 1992 before Sir Alex Ferguson brought the eccentric Frenchman to Old Trafford for a fee of £1m.
The 58-year-old former United star had a sensational impact at the Red Devils and achieved incredible success under Ferguson in the 1990s.
One of United’s legendary No 7s, Cantona was a larger-than-life figure at Old Trafford and lifted four Premier League titles and two FA Cups with United.
The United legend stunned Ferguson – and the whole world – when he announced his sudden retirement from football in 1997 at the age of 30.
“’The way he [Cantona] came in and trained was a real eye-opener,” Paul Scholes said, as per Manchester United’s official website in 2022.
“I think we were quite professional already, but Eric drilled that into us from day one: to always be practising.
“When you see a man with that much talent doing it as well, you know how important it’s going to be.
“I watched him and tried to learn from him, obviously. I tried to watch the way he passed a ball and the way he scored his goals; I was always trying to look at how he did that.
“He’s the kind of player you had to look up to and try to learn from. Scoring and making goals are the most important parts of football, as I see it, and Eric had a real talent for doing both.”
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