How Manchester United signed Robin van Persie

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“It was the first time I’ve had to speak to a manager for a long while,” added the legendary former Reds boss. “When I first came down, the old way of doing things was I’d phone the manager to negotiate and the two chairmen or secretaries would get together to finalise it. Those days are gone now.

“I suppose with the advent of agents’ involvement in deals, I’ll quite happily sit out of it because I can’t be bothered with it. Our chief executive David Gill does all that now, you know, but, in this situation, I think the phone call to Arsene helped.”

The backdrop to all this, of course, had been United agonisingly losing out to City on the final day of the season, courtesy of QPR’s dramatic injury-time collapse and that much-repeated Sergio Aguero moment.

Out of such adversity, Ferguson had responded by telling his players to remember the feeling of utter dejection when they found out the news soon after the final whistle had sounded at Sunderland, and then focused on landing a top centre-forward to ensure the Blues could be usurped next time around.

I remember having a quick chat with former chief executive Gill on the way back from attending the van Persie press conference at Old Trafford, and telling him how much of a lift the transfer had given everybody, in the wake of that crushing disappointment. There was now a buzz around the whole place.

It was a real boost for all concerned, staff and fans alike, and perhaps it was no great surprise when the move reaped dividends.

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