Gary Neville has now told former England teammate Steven Gerrard about Sir Alex Ferguson’s attempt to bring the Liverpool legend to Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson denied claims that Steven Gerrard was a world-class player in his prime, despite reportedly wanting to sign the former Liverpool midfielder twice.
Gary Neville has opened up about Ferguson’s attempted move for the 45-year-old former England captain when Gerrard was playing for Manchester United’s rivals.
Gerrard made an appearance on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast and Neville touched on the “rumour mill” around his ex-Three Lions teammate.
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Gary Neville shares exactly what Man Utd icon Sir Alex Ferguson told him about Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard
Gary Neville recalled that former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had set him the mission of recruiting Steven Gerrard during international duty.
“So, I have this conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson, which was quite a bizarre one,” he said on The Overlap’s Stick to Football show.
“So obviously, this rumour mill started, I think, at sort of around you just before your contract was coming up to an end, was it? Around that time?
“End of 2004. I think it was around this time, wasn’t it? International break in March time. Yeah, and there’s [sic] rumours around you.”
United legend Neville pointed out that Chelsea were linked with Gerrard at the time, but Ferguson had his own message for luring the ex-Liverpool star to Old Trafford.
“I think Chelsea, it was the point where Chelsea were coming in to, and he just said, ‘Look, just go and knock on his door,’” he continued.
“And basically said, ‘I’ll go and get him from Liverpool myself, and I’ll walk him back down the East Lancs.’
“And those were his exact words. So, I actually went in with that line to Steven.”
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Steven Gerrard breaks silence on Sir Alex Ferguson and Man Utd’s interest amid Gary Neville story
Gerrard, who spent the majority of his career at Anfield, revealed he turned down Ferguson’s ‘offer’ and Neville explained the ‘hidden meaning’ behind his response.
“He got the most polite, respectful, no,” he said.
Responding to the former Liverpool captain, Neville added: “It was the politest, respectful ‘f— off’ I’ve had in my life.”
United legend Neville explained that he was not surprised at Ferguson’s “ambitious” bid to try and land Gerrard from Liverpool ahead of the likes of Chelsea.
“Chelsea were massively after you, I think, at that time,” he continued.
“And I think he thought, well, look, I can steal it. He’d had some ambitious transfers in the past.
“He brought Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona. He brought Rio [Ferdinand] from Leeds. These were quite controversial transfers, you know. He’d dipped in on Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn over Roy [Keane]’s.
“It’s not even anyone you’re mentioning. It’s not even comparable. He considered it, he considered it… for three seconds.”
Gerrard, who is regarded as one of the best Premier League midfielders of all time alongside the likes of Paul Scholes, left Liverpool in 2015 and signed for LA Galaxy.
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