Sir Alex Ferguson phoned and tried to convince me to join Man Utd – but their transfer plan made me say no
He revealed another club who he was in talks with
AARON RAMSEY has revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson phoned him to try to convince him to join Manchester United.
Cardiff star Ramsey, 33, appeared as a guest on Sky Sport’s Monday Night Football show to analyse Nottingham Forest‘s game against Crystal Palace – which was won 1-0 by the hosts.
But during his appearance Ramsey was asked to clear up a rumour about a run-in with Sky pundit Gary Neville near the start of his career.
The midfielder then went on to explain how interest had been shown in him by both Man Utd and Liverpool, along with phone calls to Ferguson and Rafael Benitez.
Ramsey said: “No it wasn’t Gary [that showed me around Man Utd’s training ground], I think he was busy that day. It was the assistant manager at the time.”
Presenter David Jones joked that Jamie Carragher was hoping to blame Neville for the reason he ended up not joining the Red Devils, before Ramsey explained his decision.
He continued: “No it wasn’t main man (Ferguson). He was away but we spoke on the phone a few times with him trying to convince me to go there.
“But the initial thought was for them to loan me back [to Cardiff] but I wanted to go on [fully] then.
“What about Liverpool? Yeah there were some discussions with Rafa but at the time they couldn’t really get to that fee.
“I think they could do something around the million or two mark but then I think it went above that toward the five.”
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Ramsey went on to join Arsenal in 2008, where he would stay until 2019, having made 369 appearances and winning three FA Cups.
The Welshman explained how “he felt wanted” by the North London club after grabbing lunch with Arsene Wenger.
He added: “I felt like he really wanted me. He was doing the European Championships at the time so they flew me over there and I met him when he had a few hours off and had lunch with him.
“Everything about him and his vision and plans for me.
“I can’t remember the ins and outs but he had a really detailed plan obviously with the amount of young players that he brought through and had given great opportunities to go on and be successful.
“That was really appealing to me as well. For example like what he did with [Cesc] Fabregas, brought him in at a very young age and giving him that opportunity really young as well.
“So I felt really wanted by Arsenal.”
Despite his vast talent, Ramsey’s Arsenal career would be stunted early on by a horrific double leg break that kept him out of action for nine months.
And after that he would continue to be dogged by injuries.
After leaving Arsenal, Ramsey joined Juventus, winning Serie A and Italian Cup before he returned to Britain with Rangers on loan, adding the Scottish Cup to his trophy haul.
Ramsey then joined Nice in 2022 before rejoining boyhood club Cardiff in 2023.
He played 13 games in the Championship for them last season and scored three goals, but suffered a major knee injury that kept him out for months.
