18 November 2023 , 13:20
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Former Manchester United defender Alexander Buttner has revealed how he was in his local chip shop when he received the call telling him Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign him.
The left-back, who had previously been attracting interest from Southampton, Sunderland and QPR in that life-changing summer of 2012, almost hung up his phone to finish his fish supper because he thought his agent was winding him up.
Buttner, now aged 34 and playing in the Dutch second division for De Graafschap, joined United in a shock £5million deal just weeks after his proposed move to Southampton collapsed. He recalled: “I was eating a big portion of chips with some mates and my brother when I got this call from my agent.
“It was quite weird because a few weeks before, I had been looking at clubs of a completely different level in England. Southampton, Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers. I was going to sign with one of those clubs, I thought. Now suddenly I was wanted by Manchester United?
“I thought it was a massive prank because when I had been visiting one of the other clubs, at one of the stadiums there was a Manchester United book and I said to my agent ‘take a picture of me with the book and we'll pretend I am in England to sign with Man United. I thought it would be a cracker because my friends knew I had gone to England.
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Buttner signed for United in the summer of 2012 (PA)“Then a week later my agent called me when I was in the chip shop and just said ‘Alex, it’s Manchester United.’ I just thought, f**k off, but he was really serious. Everyone around me looked at me and wondered what was going on.
“All my mates looked at me and I said ‘we are going to Manchester!’ Then everyone went crazy. The chip shop was upside down. It was such a great moment. Celebrating the biggest transfer of your life in the chip shop around the corner. My brother jumped on the table, my mates went wild.”
Buttner’s first season at Old Trafford ended with a title medal and Ferguson’s retirement. United have not been champions since. He fell out of favour with David Moyes and was sold to Dynamo Moscow in 2014 following a bust-up with Louis van Gaal after playing just 26 games.
The Dutchman’s career has since taken him to Belgium, the USA and back to his homeland. A tee-totaler when he arrived at Old Trafford, Buttner confessed how Ferguson gave him a taste for booze.
Buttner added: “When Ferguson first offered me a drink, I initially declined. I had never had a drink before. Sir Alex laughed at me - and then I took my first very drink. Those are moments I will never forget. We became champions in England and I thought, why not, let me have a drink.”