Patrick Vieira Rejected Man Utd Move Despite Sir Alex Ferguson Meeting

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Arsenal legend rejected a move to Man Utd after private meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson

Few players could ever find it in themselves to turn down an offer from the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. The finest manager in Manchester United’s history, if not the best ever, the Scot set an entirely new standard for success.

Fergie won 49 major trophies during his glittering managerial career, including 38 major honours across 26 years at Old Trafford. That haul includes a record 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups and two Champions League titles.

From the late 1990s all the way until his retirement in 2013, if a player wanted to be part of something special, then the north-west of England was likely to be right at the top of their bucket list. Aside from Real Madrid and Barcelona, United were the number one force in world football, with Ferguson at the helm and silverware seemingly never far away.

But one player rejected the Red Devils even after sitting down with Fergie for a private meeting, where the Scot outlined his vision for his already glistening empire. Despite being given a front-row seat to Ferguson’s grand plan, the player still chose Arsenal, opting to take a different path and ultimately becoming a legend in north London instead.

Man United's main rivals throughout Fergie's time on the throne were Arsenal. So it's not surprising to hear that one Gunners' legend rejected United, but perhaps it's quite a shock to hear just how close they were to reevaluating their career path.

Fergie sold an exciting ‘vision’ to Patrick Vieira, but the French World Cup winner claimed he ‘couldn’t leave Arsenal’ as he knew they were ‘building something special’, as per the Metro.

> "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," he said. "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.

> "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."

Vieira, who was captain of the 2003/04 Arsenal Invincibles side, continued: When you do well, of course, there are 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's ability to break up play while also being able to burst into the final third made him the complete package during his sunshine years in English football.

Captaining a team to an invincible season, with that famous VapoRub patch on his shirt, is something no other player in Premier League history can boast, and that is exactly what Vieira did as he led Arsenal to their Golden trophy in the 2003/04 season.

Patrick Vieira's Premier League Statistics

- Appearances: 307 - Goals: 31 - Assists: 34 - Wins: 186 - Losses: 43

Among the Frenchman's other achievements are a further two Premier League titles, five FA Cups (including one with Manchester City later down the line), four Serie A triumphs across stints with both sides of the Milan divide, and a World Cup and European Championship with France.

The only thing that is really missing from his trophy cabinet is a Champions League honour, which also goes for Mikel Arteta's side these days. But, by the sounds of it, there are very few regrets from the big midfield enforcer, who recently became head cacoh for Senegal - where he was born.

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