Manchester United have a history of pinching some of Tottenham’s best players over the years.
Indeed, the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick swapped Spurs for United in the 2000s, while United did want to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham at one point.
Teddy Sheringham is another player who joined United from Tottenham, and according to the striker, everyone at United also wanted to sign another Spurs player at that time.
Speaking on the Off The Shelf Podcast, Sheringham says that everyone at Manchester United often used to ask Sheringham to convince Darren Anderton to come to Old Trafford.
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Everyone at Manchester United wanted Darren Anderton signed
Sheringham spoke about how highly-rated Anderton was as a player.
The striker says that a number of players from Manchester United wanted Anderton signed, and a deal nearly happened at one point.
However, Anderton ultimately decided to stay at Spurs up until 2004.
Ian Wright said Anderton was a fantastic player, and there’s a reason why United wanted him.
“All the Man United boys that I used to, like we played with England. When I went from Tottenham to Man United, they were like, Shaggy (Darren Anderton), he’s brilliant. And they were like, what a player, get him to come to Man United.
And he nearly went to Man United at a time, probably after about three or four years, when, in my first spell, but he didn’t go. Probably because I said to him, don’t go, Shaggy, stay. And then two years later, I went to Man United.
“He was like, where are you going? Sorry, mate, I’ve got to go.”
What Darren Anderton said about failed Manchester United move
Anderton never got his move to United, and speaking on the Quickly Kevin, Will He Score? Podcast, the midfielder discussed his failed move to Old Trafford.
The England international says that he does have some regrets about not joining United, but, ultimately, he was happy at Spurs around that time.
“I regret not winning all those trophies and playing in that team would’ve been amazing, but at the time I was so happy at Spurs,” Anderton said.
“Euro 96 was coming, I didn’t want to go somewhere else and maybe have a bit of a struggle and not be part of that.
“That summer they did get rid of Hughes, Kanchelskis and Ince. I thought, ‘Well I’m in the right place here.’
“Spurs fans were really great with me when I first went and really struggled. I always remember that and this was two and a half, three years in and I wasn’t ready to jump ship.
“That was the summer Alan Hansen came out with, ‘You’ll never win anything with kids’, so no-one knew what was coming. Of course I’d have loved to have played in those teams. They were great teams.”
Of course, Anderton snubbing United may have been for the best for the Red Devils too.
Around that time, a young midfielder by the name of Paul Scholes was coming through the ranks, and perhaps if Anderton was at United at that point, Scholes wouldn’t have had the chances he would eventually get in the coming years.
Scholes would go on to be an all-time great, and United never truly lived to regret missing out on Anderton.
