Former Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre has revealed the reason he rejected Liverpool’s offer to join Old Trafford over 20 years ago.
The Frenchman spent nine seasons at the Red Devils, making 361 appearances, winning four Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League Cup.
The 47-year-old was initially approached by the Reds under Gerard Houllier, but he was not thrilled with his interest. “Back
in 1999, when I first arrived at United, there were stories in the press that I was close to signing for Liverpool, but believe me, it was not close,” Silvestre said.
“It is true that Liverpool came with an official offer from Gerard Houllier first, but it was not an attractive offer at the time. “
I played for Inter Playing with Ronaldo, Roberto Baggio and world champions like Yuri Djorkaeff, Diego Simeone, a young Andrea Pirlo, so it was a pretty special club, even though we changed managers four times in one season. “So
when Liverpool came I didn’t jump for joy. “
A few days later when I got the call from Sir Alex Ferguson, there was no hesitation. For me, Sir Alex was different. “
I had come to Old Trafford with Inter the previous season, the Champions League quarter-final, it’s a night I remember and thought to myself: ‘Wow, is there something like this?’ The atmosphere was amazing. “
I played the second game at San Siro and then I followed United in this crazy final against Bayern Munich. It helps when you lose to the team that has won the tournament, http://ufabet999.app it makes it easier to swallow. “
So when Sir Alex gave me the chance to join this fantastic team I didn’t hesitate for a moment. “
Things happened really quickly. I arrived on the Thursday afternoon, had dinner with the manager. The next morning I had my medical, signed the contract, went to training and then travelled with the team on Friday afternoon to the 11.30am game on Saturday. “
And it’s crazy that the first schedule meant my first game was against Liverpool at Anfield.”