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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson admits regret over sale of Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross
The Scot has admitted the emergence of Gerard Pique was behind the decision to let the tough-tackling stopper move to the Potters, despite the Spaniard eventual leaving the club
31 Jan 2012 18:20:00
By Shane Farrington
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he regrets letting Ryan Shawcross leave Manchester United to join Stoke City after watching the defender develop into a Premier League regular.
The Red Devils boss also spoke of the thinking behind letting Shawcross join the Potters in January 2009, stating the emergence of Gerard Pique was the main reason behind the transfer.
However despite being given the opportunity to establish himself at Old Trafford, Pique rejoined Barcelona later that year after becoming homesick in England.
"It always grieves me when I have to release a young player of great potential and Shawcross certainly fell into that category,” Sir Alex wrote in his programme notes quoted on United's official website.
"He had the misfortune - though he perhaps doesn't see it that way considering the success he has had with Stoke - of coming through along with a number of other young defenders.
"This was the era of Gerard Pique and we kept him at Ryan's expense, only I didn't know that Gerard was growing homesick and, soon after, he was telling us he wanted to go back to Spain.
"He has prospered with Barcelona, as we know, and, if I had known he wanted away then, we would have kept Ryan Shawcross."
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The Red Devils boss also spoke of the thinking behind letting Shawcross join the Potters in January 2009, stating the emergence of Gerard Pique was the main reason behind the transfer.
However despite being given the opportunity to establish himself at Old Trafford, Pique rejoined Barcelona later that year after becoming homesick in England.
"It always grieves me when I have to release a young player of great potential and Shawcross certainly fell into that category,” Sir Alex wrote in his programme notes quoted on United's official website.
"He had the misfortune - though he perhaps doesn't see it that way considering the success he has had with Stoke - of coming through along with a number of other young defenders.
"This was the era of Gerard Pique and we kept him at Ryan's expense, only I didn't know that Gerard was growing homesick and, soon after, he was telling us he wanted to go back to Spain.
"He has prospered with Barcelona, as we know, and, if I had known he wanted away then, we would have kept Ryan Shawcross."
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £50 in free bets! |
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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