Why Sir Alex Ferguson turned down Zinedine Zidane for Man Utd

Martin Edwards, the former Manchester United chairman, has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson turned down the chance to sign Zinedine Zidane in the mid-1990s.

Zidane, who at the time was playing for Bordeaux, was scouted by United’s Les Kershaw, but Ferguson already had Eric Cantona in the team and he played in a similar position to his French compatriot.

According to Sky Sports, Edwards told ManUtd.com that Zidane was on the club’s radar when he was 22. The Frenchman subsequently signed for Juventus and after that Real Madrid, where he is now the manager.

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“When Zidane was at Bordeaux, Les Kershaw, the chief scout, was telling me we should be interested in him and I mentioned it to Alex,” said Edwards.

“Alex said that Eric [Cantona] had also mentioned Zidane to him but Alex felt Zidane played in the same position as Eric.

“Having gone over to France to persuade Eric to re-sign for us, after the Crystal Palace incident [when Cantona was banned for eight months after clashing with a football fan at Selhurst Park in 1995], he felt that, if he had brought Zidane in, it may have affected Eric’s position, so he stuck with Eric.”

Edwards, who was United’s chairman from 1980 to 2022, also revealed that the club had targeted, but failed, to sign England stars John Barnes, Gary Lineker, Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer.

“I’d done the negotiations for Alan Shearer and again, I thought he was coming,” said Edwards. “But Jack Walker [Blackburn’s owner] was very adamant he wasn’t coming to Manchester United. It was a case of ‘over my dead body’ but he allowed him to go to Newcastle.”