Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has revealed he rejected the chance to join Manchester United despite a private meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Vieira is considered one of Arsenal’s greatest ever players, having won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups under Arsene Wenger.
The Premier League icon was a key member of Wenger’s Invincible side and ended his nine-year spell at Arsenal in 2005, moving to Italian giants Inter Milan.
Ex-Arsenal captain Vieira attracted interest from Manchester United during his time in north London and held a meeting with Ferguson to discuss the move.
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Fergie sold an exciting ‘vision’ to Vieira but the French World Cup winner says he ‘couldn’t leave Arsenal’ as he knew they were ‘building something special’.
‘I had the opportunity to move to Real Madrid a couple of times and I even had an opportunity to move to Manchester United,’ Vieira told Sky Sports.
‘I had a meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson. Full respect, I couldn’t say no to meeting him because he was an important figure in the Premier League.
‘We met and we talked and he explained to me his vision that he had for Manchester United and the team that he wanted to build.
‘He wanted to play me with Roy Keane, [Ryan] Giggs on the left-hand side, David Beckham on the right-hand side and [Paul] Scholes to play behind [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy, so it wasn’t a bad team.
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‘But I couldn’t leave Arsenal, I was too happy there and we were on the way of building something quite really special for the club and that’s the way it was.
‘When you do well, of course there’s teams who are interested and then you have to make a decision. But the decision for me was to stay at Arsenal because I felt the love from the club, from the players and from the fans.
‘Everything was there for me to grow up as a player and to achieve what I wanted to.’
Vieira was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2022. The 50-year-old is currently manager of African giants Senegal.
‘Patrick Vieira came to the Premier League a relative unknown but left having redefined the role of a central midfielder,’ a statement read.
‘The Frenchman provided a rare combination of power, aggression and skill at the heart of an Arsenal midfield that won three Premier League titles.
‘His long-range strikes and late runs into the penalty area brought 31 goals, including the one that sealed Arsenal’s Invincible season in 2003/04, the captain lifting the Premier League Trophy after an unbeaten campaign.’
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