Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed the one player he regrets not signing during his time as Manchester United manager.
Former Tottenham and England midfielder Paul Gascoigne is the player that Sir Alex Ferguson wishes he signed for Manchester United.
The legendary Red Devils coach revealed his Gazza regret during an interview with former player Gary Neville to promote his upcoming documentary ‘Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In’, which will be released on May 29.
In the interview, Neville passed on a question made by a SPORTbible fan asking Ferguson for the one player that he wished to coach but never did.
“Gascoigne, without question,” Ferguson said to Neville. “I think he was the best English player since Bobby Charlton. I think he was a fantastic player.
"I thought he was gonna be a top player. I don't know what's happened there."
"He's an excellent player."
Sir Alex Ferguson chats to @GNev2 about the two Tottenham players he would have liked to have managed 👀 pic.twitter.com/JI7KrFlkFz
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) May 21, 2021
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get him and I think, looking back now, he made a big mistake. He recognized it himself years later.”
On Gascoigne’s abilities, Ferguson said: “He was a marvelous player.
“I loved his strength. We played Newcastle up there and he had just come back from injury.
“As soon as he came back, they started winning games. I played three in the middle of the pitch – [Norman] Whiteside, [Byran] Robson, and Remi Moses – and he destroyed them.
“He nutmegged Moses right in front of the dugout and patted him on the head.
“He was unbelievable and I said to [ex-Manchester United chairman] Martin Edwards on the way home: ‘Sign this boy. Get on the phone to him on Monday.’
“And by that time, he had already done a deal with Tottenham, which was really unfortunate.
“That was a disappointment because he agreed to sign and then Tottenham changed his mind by buying his mother and father a house.”
Of course, Gascoigne went on to play for several clubs including Italian club Lazio and Scottish giants Rangers.
The 53-year-old was arguably one of the most gifted English players in history and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
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