Ex-Manchester United attacker reveals Sir Alex Ferguson made him take cooking lessons before buying his own house

Former Manchester United attacker Daniel Nardiello has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson made him learn to cook before moving into his new house. The Welshman bought a house after penning his first professional contract at Old Trafford, but was not allowed to move in.

Daniel Nardiello made just four appearances for Manchester United – three in the League Cup and one in the UEFA Champions League. He spent most of his career at Barnsley FC, with Exeter FC and Bury FC.

Speaking to Daily Star, Nardiello recalled the incident in which Sir Alex Ferguson stopped him from moving into his new house. He claims that the legendary manager offered him a three-year deal, and soon after penning it, he bought a house.

"I had my first three years at United, I'd done quite well in the youth teams, and reserve level, and Sir Alex offered me a three-year contract, which I was obviously going to take. But with the new contract, and my time at the digs coming to an end, I wanted to buy my own property, my own house to live in."

However, the manager was not interested in letting the youngster own a property unless he learned to cook from the chefs at the training ground. Nardiello added:

"He was like, 'No, I'm not letting you buy your own property unless you've had three months of cooking lessons with the chef at Carrington. But youth players need to have permission, so I had to knock on the door to ask if I can buy my own property. So for three months, a couple of times a week, I was out cooking all the food for the first team players. I was in a bit earlier than I would normally be to help the chef. Once the three months were up, I knocked on the gaffer's door again and he allowed me to pursue buying a home and moving in to my own house. But it goes to show the level of detail he went into."

Nardiello continued:

"He wanted to make sure the club was run properly from top to bottom, wanted to look after his players, making sure they had the best start. I'm not a good cook now, though, my wife doesn't want my cooking, it's once in a blue moon I cook, but it did give me a good grounding."

Daniel Nardiello left Manchester United in 2005

Daniel Nardiello left Manchester United in 2005 after two loan spells at Barnsley.

He spent two seasons at the Tykes, before moving to Queens Park Rangers and returning to Barnsley on loan a year later.

The former Manchester United youngster retired in 2017 after a short spell at the Welsh club Bangor City.