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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Jack Flintham

Patrice Evra names two players Sir Alex Ferguson wasn't allowed to sign at Manchester United

Former Manchester United captain Patrice Evra has revealed two players Sir Alex Ferguson wasn't allowed to bring to Old Trafford.

The legendary United manager would leave the dugout after a 27-year spell at Old Trafford in 2013. He would end his career by regaining the Premier League title from Manchester City.

However, Evra has revealed that he was shocked when Ferguson left the Theatre of Dreams after receiving reassurances from the boss that he would be staying at the club. "I never thought we'd have to wait this long to lift the Premier League trophy again," the Frenchman told Betfair.

ALSO READ: Evra praises three Ten Hag decisions

"It was really sad to hear that Sir Alex Ferguson was leaving because two weeks before the end of the season, I remember Ferguson came to me and said ' Patrice, I see in the press they're saying I'm going to leave, but trust me, I'm going to be here another 10 years'. He told me we need to win the Champions League again and he needed two players.

"One was Cristiano Ronaldo, the other was Gareth Bale. It was something like £200m to get both of those two players at the club at the time and United, the board, didn't agree with that.

"Now you can see we've spent even more money than that and look where we are. That's why it was really painful, that last league trophy. Of course, I didn't expect to wait for so long.

"After David Moyes came, it didn't work out, so we changed managers. We need consistency, we need to trust and I don't want to become a club where every year or two years we change the manager because we won't achieve anything by doing this.

"Nobody expected that, none of the players. I didn't expect to leave the club either, so there were many decisions that were massive surprises for us after the last league trophy."

Ronaldo would eventually return to United in 2021 but Bale has since moved to MLS after a long stint at Real Madrid.

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