It wasn’t often a player left Manchester United out of choice under Sir Alex Ferguson, and very few left to join a rival team.
Both David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo left for another country amid their transfers to European counterparts Real Madrid while Carlos Tevez, of course, is remembered for that infamous cross-city switch in 2009. Juan Sebastian Veron also makes that shortlist.
He left for Chelsea in 2003 in one of Roman Abramovich’s first signings as club owner. The Argentine only enjoyed two years at Old Trafford before making the decision to leave. He scored 11 times in 82 appearances and took his leave after lifting the Premier League title. Veron moved to United for a British transfer record, arriving at Old Trafford for £28.1million.
Upon Veron’s unveiling, Sir Alex stated: “I never thought I’d spend this much money on a footballer.” He added: “I think he’s coming into great years of his career and he will peak and we’ll get the benefit of that. He is a world-class, fantastic footballer with a vision of a game we can use.”
Like all United players, Veron admired Sir Alex. Speaking in 2021, the midfielder spoke glowingly of the great man and unpacked how his style of management kept standards at a peak level. The Argentine said: “He was so demanding with everybody. If you couldn’t keep up, it was clear you would have to look elsewhere. He was always forthright with me, but he had my back from day one, which was very much appreciated.”
He admitted: “At some points, I wasn’t able to give him everything he expected from me consistently. He got it in a few matches but not in others, and if you want to be a great player, your game has to be stable. I couldn’t deliver it at Old Trafford.”
Veron found it hard to settle in at United and ended up scoring just five times in 40 matches in his debut season. However, Veron knew he wasn’t at top tilt. He admitted that things away from the football pitch impacted what happened when he was on it.
“It was a big change of culture for us,” he said when speaking about how his family had to adapt to life in England. The opportunity at Chelsea soon arose. Abramovich was looking to have a statement window and put markers down. He splashed £111m in his first summer.
Veron went for £15m, with United losing out on £13m from their original purchase fee. The switch to Stamford Bridge was not an easy one, though. In 2019, he explained: “At Chelsea, the reality is that I had very little time. I had a major back injury and I was out for practically six months. I was already thinking more about going back to Italy than staying there in England.”
“With United, the truth is that there are few things, very few, that I regret. But one is to have left Manchester. They never pushed me or told me ‘You have to go’ but they gave me the chance, the possibility. I had talks with my former colleagues at that time telling me that I had to stay. And at one moment I decided to leave because I wanted to play, because I didn’t know… I should have stayed.”