Manchester United’s legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed in an interview why he rejected the golden chance to sign David Silva.
Since his arrival to Manchester City in the 2010 summer, David Silva has undoubtedly proved himself as one of the best attacking midfielders in recent times. The 29 year old Spanish playmaker had a huge contribution in Manchester City’s four major trophy win including two league titles. The £24m 2010 summer transfer of the Citizens also won a World Cup along with back-to-back European Championships for his country.
Before Silva arrived in City, Manchester United were also highly interested to rope in the stylish attacking midfielder during his stint with Valencia but later surprisingly lost their interested in Silva. After all this time, former manager Alex Ferguson has revealed why the Red Devils didn’t sign the attacking midfielder. The problem was in Silva’s work-shy attitude.
“We watched Silva a lot when he was in Valencia.” The legendary Scotsman is quoted in an interview by The Mirror, “And the other player they had, the same type, years before it, played in that No. 10 role.”
“My problem with that was you have to be very, very good to play in that position, because there are no defensive duties for them. So if you want to be really successful, everyone has to do their turn, has to work, you know? ”
“So I had a difficulty with that. But, in the end, of course, there are the greats. You could say Lionel Messi was a No. 10 type, Maradona, some fantastic players, and I don’t dispute that. But at United we always found it difficult. The kind of No. 10 I used came from my experience as a footballer.”
David Silva scored in Ferguson’s heaviest defeat to City by staggering 6-1 margin in 2011, plus he has helped them win all of their last four visits to Old Trafford. But good news for United is the Spaniard will miss the upcoming Manchester derby due to injury.