06 February 2024 , 10:48
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Former Manchester United supremo David Gill has named his five greatest signings while operating as the club's CEO with Wayne Rooney appearing to take the primary position.
Gill worked closely with Sir Alex Ferguson to improve United's squad during the last decade of his tenure and helped usher in a period of five Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy after replacing Peter Kenyon. The 66-year-old was promoted to the chief executive role in 2003 when Kenyon moved to Chelsea and served as the club's finance director before that.
That meant he missed out on being able to pick Cristiano Ronaldo by a matter of months. However, there was no shortage of names for Gill to choose from when asked by Rio Ferdinand to name just three players as his top signings.
The ex-United chief quickly chose his number one as Rooney. UEFA's vice president required four slots to make his decision however.
"Wayne, in terms of what he did for the club,' Gill told Ferdinand's FIVE YouTube channel. "Michael Carrick in terms of what he brought. I would say either... I can have two, there's a lot. Vidic and Evra."
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Gill was unable to stop there however. The non-executive director also highlighted that the arrival of Edwin van der Sar was crucial.
Edwin van der Sar won several major honours during his time at Manchester United (Getty Images)He added: "In terms of importance to the club, one of the most important ones was Edwin because we struggled to replace Peter [Schmeichel] and we went and got Edwin and he was great for us."
United's recent signings have come under scrutiny and the likes of Antony and Jadon Sancho have commanded exorbitant fees but not being able to hit the ground running. Gill is hopeful that incoming CEO Omar Berrada can turn that around and believes it should be a priority to work with Dave Brailsford to get the most out of recruitment.
He said: "[My advice would be to] really focus in with Dave Brailsford and those on the recruitment and negotiation side, really understand that. Get the focus back on that, get it working better to deliver the players.
"We have just negotiated an extension with adidas, a great deal there, and we've got sponsors coming in all the time so that is working pretty well. But if you align that with a team performance you're doing even better."