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Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam has opened up on his unceremonious exit from Old Trafford back in 2001. The Dutchman joined Lazio in the summer transfer window that year after falling out with then manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Stam's autobiography Head To Head seemingly didn't go down well with the legendary tactician, ultimately leading to the defender's departure after three years at the club.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, the Dutch defender said:
"It wasn’t good, of course, [when Sir Alex Ferguson] let me go. They used [my book] more or less as an excuse to sell me, because the book wasn’t an autobiography. It was more inside information in how we worked together as a team, as a unit, in a dressing room."
He added:
"I told him, ‘I don’t know if I want to leave, if I want to go to Italy as well – to Lazio’. At first, he didn’t want to say what club it was, then he said it – but the relationship is gone [in that moment], isn’t it? The feeling is not there anymore, it’s cracked. I spoke to my wife about it, I had just signed a new deal also with [Man] United just a couple of months before."
He further noted:
"We played Blackburn after that. He phoned me in the morning. He said, ‘I'm not going to take you in the squad because of the book, because a lot of the attention will go out to you because of that’. I said, ‘but if you don't take me within the squad, then there's even more attention’, and then the deal was done within days. It needed to be done within 24 hours otherwise I couldn’t play Champions League football anymore."
Stam concluded:
"Because of how I am, I wanted to play, but they needed to have that money as well for the budget. At that time, they mentioned it [the budget]."
Stam made 127 appearances for United across competitions and was an integral part of the treble-winning team in the 1998/99 season. In all, he won three Premier Leagues, a Champions League and an FA Cup during his time at Old Trafford.
"When it happened, it was a massive shock" - Gary Neville on Jaap Stam's Manchester United departure
Jaap Stam's former teammate at Manchester United, Gary Neville was also a part of the Stick to Football podcast. He provided his side of the story that led to the former's departure from Old Trafford.
Neville said:
"Sir Alex Ferguson has since admitted it was a mistake [letting go of Jaap Stam]. When it happened, it was a massive shock. It's a travesty really that [Jaap] only played for Manchester United for three years."
He added:
"The quality of centre-back [Jaap] was – one of the best centre-backs that's ever played in the Premier League, let alone at Manchester United."
Neville and Stam shared the pitch across 99 games for Manchester United between 1998 and 2003.
