Patrick Vieira has revealed he was offered the chance to join Manchester United during his playing career. The former midfielder, who established himself as an Arsenal legend after arriving in north London in 1996, said he met Sir Alex Ferguson to discuss a move that would have seen him play alongside Roy Keane.
A meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson
Speaking to Sky Sports, Vieira disclosed that he had the opportunity to move to Real Madrid on several occasions and also had a chance to join Manchester United. He said: "I had the opportunity to move to Real Madrid a couple of times and I even had...an opportunity to move to Manchester United."
"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."
Why he stayed at Arsenal
Vieira described the team Ferguson planned to build, which included Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy. However, he chose to remain at Arsenal, where he captained the "Invincibles" squad that won the Premier League title in the 2003-04 season without a single defeat.
He explained: "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."
Career after Arsenal
Vieira left Arsenal in 2005 and went on to play for Juventus and Inter Milan before finishing his playing career at Manchester City. After retiring, he moved into management, taking charge of Crystal Palace, Strasbourg and Genoa. Now aged 50, he is the head coach of Senegal.
