Jaap Stam has admitted joining Manchester United was "stressful" – because he couldn't understand Sir Alex Ferguson's accent.
The Dutch legend, 51, became the most expensive defender in history when the Red Devils splashed £10.75million to sign him from PSV in the summer of 1998. United had been targeting him for a number of months beforehand.
Opening up on how the transfer came about, he told the Stick to Football podcast that Fergie personally called to convince him to join. But the conversation wasn't exactly flowing between the pair.
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Stam said: “He phoned me a couple of times during the season after games. It was stressful, the Scottish – it was hard to understand! In Holland, you go to school, do your English lessons, you think you can talk English but then you need to speak to a Scotsman."
The legendary manager's personal touch worked regardless, with his former player going on to say: “He did that well.
"Sometimes as a manager, if you really want to have a player and you’re really convinced that he can do the business for you and your team, you need to show in a way, as a club, that you’re interested in the player – that you really want to have him.”
Does anyone rival Fergie's man management? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
Stam spent three seasons at Old Trafford, including their famous treble-winning campaign, as well as winning two other Premier League titles. He shockingly departed unexpectedly in 2001 following the release of his autobiography 'Head to Head'.
He'd claimed Ferguson's approach for him had been done without PSV's permission, which earned him a "b******ing" over the phone which he this time understood loud and clear.
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“He was screaming at me down the phone and told me I couldn’t publish these things but I assured him it wasn’t like that, the headlines of the paper made it worse," Stam reflected.
“I went in a few days later and had another meeting with Ferguson that didn’t go well and I told him I’m going home for a few days.
"On the way back, though, I got a call from my agent and told him I was heading home but he said ‘They’ve already sold you’ and I replied ‘What’?"
Jaap Stam was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
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