Page 53 - Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

Djemba-Djemba, another smashing lad, was hammered by the press for not being a signature
signing. They always liked the marquee names and took a much dimmer view of players with a lower
recognition rating. They loved Verón, at first. They were lukewarm about Kléberson and Djemba-
Djemba. David Bellion was young and we felt we could develop him. He was lightning quick, a

charming boy, a Christian, but also very shy. He had been at Sunderland and had come on as a sub
against us. Tore us apart. We made a move for him when his contract was up. Had we looked into his
background more, we’d have known he was diffident. We sold him to Nice for 1 million euros, and
he moved from there to Bordeaux, which brought us an additional fee. The Bellion transfer was not
one you could classify as an attempt to lay a foundation stone for a new side. He was an add-on who
was available at a good price.
The turning point in this whole chapter was capturing Ronaldo and Rooney, which gave us the

signature signings we needed: talismanic, match-winning players, in line with our tradition. Patrice
Evra and Nemanja Vidić, in January 2006, were to be other stellar acquisitions. The first point in our
notes on Vidić was his courage, his determination. He could tackle, head the ball clear. We were
looking at a typical English centre-back. Vida hadn’t played since the end of the season in Moscow,
in November. In his first game for us, against Blackburn, he was breathing out of his backside. He
needed a pre-season. That was the gist of it.

At left-back, in Denis Irwin’s old position, we had Heinze briefly but then moved on to Evra, who
was used as a wing-back at Monaco, where he featured in the Champions League final against Porto.
With full-backs it’s like searching for a rare bird. When we first saw Evra, he was playing as a
wing-back, but he had the speed and was young enough to switch to full-back in our system. We knew
plenty about his attacking capabilities. He was quick, had superb technique and a strong personality.
Very strong. Heinze was another matter. Ruthless, would kick his granny. But an absolute winner who
could also play centre-back. In both cases we were successful.

As all United fans will remember, Evra’s debut came in the Manchester derby at Eastlands and
was a total disaster. You could see him thinking, ‘Why am I here?’ Eventually he settled and
developed. Heinze, on the other hand, had a mercenary streak and I always had the sense he was
scanning the horizon for his next deal. After one year he wanted to leave. We were playing Villarreal,
and stationed in a lovely complex outside Valencia, when his agent came to see me to say he wanted
to move.

Things were never the same after that. The following day he injured his cruciate. We did everything
possible to accommodate him. He was allowed to pursue his rehabilitation in Spain. He was there for
six months and came back for a single game. We did our best. But at the end of December he came
back wanting away, wanting new terms, a new contract. When he returned fully from injury, he went
to see David Gill with his agent and we agreed we would be better off without him. We agreed to let
him go for £9 million. They went straight to Liverpool, who said they would take him.
Gabriel was told, with no ambiguity, that historically Manchester United do not sell players to

Liverpool, and vice versa. Heinze’s advisers then tried to make a legal issue of it, which led to a
meeting in London, in which the Premier League sided with us.
During that process, the chairman of Crystal Palace contacted David Gill to say someone
representing Heinze had asked them to buy him so they could later sell him on to Liverpool. We used
that information as part of our evidence. The judgment came down in our favour and eventually we
offloaded him to Real Madrid. These guys move around. Heinze had been at two Spanish clubs

already before he went to PSG, from where he came to us.
Alan Smith was another addition from that time, in May 2004, for £7 million. Leeds were in