Twelve years ago today we were blackmailed and bullied into selling Louis Saha to Manchester United. Or that’s how it felt like from the terraces anyway, although the £12m fee might have looked different to MAF. And it apparently did to the player who was adamant that he was in the right in wanting the move. please log in to view this image At the time reports like this were the order of the day: “During weeks of bitter wrangling Saha criticised Chairman Mohamed Al Fayed and warned the club he would leave for nothing at the end of his contract in two years if they did not sell him during the transfer window.He stands by the way he acted and has no regrets: "Maybe I did not act like a loyal player but I had to stand up for what I wanted. This could be my only chance to join Manchester United and that is a dream for me. If it had been another club I would not have asked in the way I did.” "It has been very difficult and I know some peoples' opinions have not been on my side, I can understand that. But I have always wanted to play in the big competitions” There’s no doubting though that the Club caused a bit of a kerfuffle of its own when we signed him at the beginning of the 2000/01 season and he went on to score a total of 63 goals for us before leaving. Here are ten of the best:
I once heard someone say that you can't regard selling a player as good or bad business until you see how the club replaces them. We pocketed £12M for Saha, then went out and signed Brian McBride for something in the region of £1M. It was a shame to see Louis go, but even without factoring in the injury problems that subsequently plagued his career, the exchange for Brian McBride at a fraction of the price still looks pretty good to me.
Too true Captain. You've stolen my thunder as well - this was going to be in a 'Golden Wednesday' post please log in to view this image since McBride signed for us twelve years ago today.
No problem Captain. Advance notice though, Erik Neveland, from eight years ago is liable to to appear in 'Purple Friday' please log in to view this image
