Sir Alex Ferguson was furious after private letter sparked Man Utd transfer saga

04 November 2023 , 05:00

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Sir Alex Ferguson signed Louis Saha in 2004 (Image: Getty Images)

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson sparked a backlash in the dressing room and elsewhere when he signed Louis Saha from Fulham in January 2004.

Saha was signed midway through the 2003/04 season to add goals to the United team. So far so uncontroversial. But it was the way that he arrived which was anything but straightforward.

Fulham were not keen to lose their star striker, who had scored 13 goals in the Premier League that season, and manager Chris Coleman was determined to make a stand. Coleman accused United of bullying Fulham over the Frenchman, prompting Saha to go public with his desire to leave. It was very messy and things escalated quickly.

Ferguson saw things differently and accused Fulham of breaking the rules of etiquette. "We sent them a letter marked private and confidential and they gave it to the press," he said at the time. "I spoke to Chris Coleman about the boy at the start of the season and left it there. I never said another word.

"Then we sent them a letter, containing our bid, signed by [chief executive] David Gill, not by Alex Ferguson. We did everything right. By sending a letter we did it professionally. There won't be another bid. We don't want any fights. Fulham seem determined to keep the boy so there is nothing we can do about that."

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Saha was determined to leave for Old Trafford and, in an interview with Le Parisien, he threatened to go on strike and walk away for free at the end of his contract in 2006. "They [Fulham] played it as 'it's a business world'," he told the Utd Podcast in 2020. "So some price was agreed, and I knew about it, and my agent was saying to me that they wanted to increase the price to make the most of it.

Sir Alex Ferguson signed Louis Saha in January 2004 for Manchester United (John Peters via Getty Images)

"So I let it go, but at some point, where you feel this opportunity will go because it's a January transfer [and] you see the clock ticking, you stand and say: 'No, they [United] will take somebody else and I don't want this to happen'."

Eventually United got their way, paying £12.8million for Saha. But even then there were still problems to confront; while some United players were happy to see the Fulham striker, others were less than happy.

Former United defender Gary Neville revealed that Ferguson unusually sought his advice before signing Saha. Speaking to Sky Sports in 2020, he said: "Sir Alex never asked us which players we should sign or never asked us information about players he was going to sign." He added, "But after we played Fulham one time in the FA Cup (in 2001), he actually asked us as defenders, would we sign Louis Saha? We all said 'yes' straight away."

Ruud van Nistlerooy was initially angered by the signing of Louis Saha (Getty Images)

While Neville and his fellow defenders were thrilled with Saha's arrival at Old Trafford, one person wasn't as pleased: Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy. His playing time began to decrease after Saha joined the team.

The tension peaked during the 2005/06 season when Van Nistelrooy was left on the bench for the League Cup final against Wigan Athletic, replaced by Saha. According to Rio Ferdinand, Van Nistelrooy had expected to play but wasn't called upon.

In a chat with The Beautiful Game podcast in 2020, Ferdinand recalled: "I think one of the big catalysts for Ruud leaving was the League Cup final. He didn't start the game, but he said that the manager promised he was going to come on. But he didn't come on."

"Ruud went nuts. He was going crazy on the bench, screaming, swearing at the manager. I think the manager was like 'you know what... ooh, now's the time [to sell him]."

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Felix Keith