Sir Alex Ferguson convinced Andreas Pereira to join Manchester United instead of his boyhood club Arsenal.
During his 27-year tenure, Ferguson established himself as arguably the greatest manager of all time after he led United to a host of trophies including 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.
Many players were lured to United as they could not pass up a chance to play under Ferguson.Former United player Pereira was no exception, the Brazilian was close to moving to Arsenal, a club which he supported as a kid, but then Ferguson intervene.
Speaking on The American Dream podcast, he said: “It was really special. I was speaking with my dad and my head was on Arsenal, I wanted to go to Arsenal.
“I was a fan and I liked the way they played football. It was at the time that Wilshere was getting his first games and I got a shirt from Wilshere and I loved this shirt.
“It came out that United were interested and I was always a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo, and my Dad said ok let's go and see how it is over there. In my head, I was going to visit and my head was in Arsenal, but Sir Alex Ferguson came and said it was nice to meet me, and I was in shock.”Pereira continued: “But it wasn't just me, it was my Father, I never see him in shock with anyone and he didn't know what to do or to say hi.
“He said to me 'I always have a place for a Brazilian in my team, I saw you in the Nike Cup.' And when he said that I was like 'I'm staying here, I don't care about Arsenal, I love Ronaldo, I love Rooney, I love everyone.”However, Pereira only made his first team debut in 2014, under Louis van Gaal.
After making 75 appearances for the Red Devils, Pereira was sold to Fulham in a deal worth a reported £10 million plus performance-related add-ons.
For Fulham, he has so far made 38 appearances, scoring five goals.
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