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Patrice Evra has revealed Sir Alex Ferguson retired after the Manchester United board refused to sign the two players he wanted. The Frenchman claims the legendary manager wanted to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo and also add Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur.
Sir Alex retired from football in 2013 after winning the Premier League in his final season. That was the last time Manchester United lifted the league title and have been chasing it ever since.
Evra has now dropped a bomb and claimed that the key reason behind Sir Alex's decision to retire was the Manchester United board.
The Scotsman wanted to win the Champions League one last time, but could not get the board to sign the players he wanted. The former footballer told Betfair:
"First of all, it was really sad to hear Ferguson was leaving. Two weeks before the end of the League, I remember Ferguson coming to me. He said, 'Patrice, I see in the Press that I'm going to leave, but trust me I will be here in another 10 years'. He told me 'we need to win the Champions League again and I need two players'.
"One was Cristiano Ronaldo and [the other was] Gareth Bale. I think it was something like £200m to get those two players back at the club, at the time. United, the board, or whatever, they didn't agree with that. And now you can see, we spend even more money than that and look where we are. So that's why it was really painful."
Sir Alex apologized to two Manchester United players after retirement decision
In 2020, Patrice Evra spoke about Sir Alex Ferguson's sudden decision to retire. He recalled arriving at the training ground with cameras all around and believed it was a player-related story.
However, the players were told Sir Alex wanted them in the dressing room and he then announced his decision to retire. Evra revealed that Sir Alex apologized to Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa as he had recently signed them.
He told UTD Podcast:
"He came, and he said, 'I'm really sorry. Some people have said that I'm going to retire even before I say it myself. That's why you saw all those cameras. But I will retire because my wife needs me.'
"He apologised to [Robin] van Persie, he apologised to Shinji [Kagawa], because he just brought them. He apologised to them especially."
David Moyes replaced Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager, but was sacked later in his first season with the club.
