'I demanded to leave Man Utd even though they wanted me to stay – I made a big mistake'
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Andrei Kanchelskis admitted he was wrong to leave Manchester United after publicly demanding an exit - despite Sir Alex Ferguson wanting him to stay. The Russian was an unknown entity when he signed for the Premier League giants in 1991 from Shakhtar Donetsk but soon endeared himself to the Old Trafford faithful. He racked up 161 appearances for the club and scored 36 goals as part of the first United team to win the Premier League.
Despite a career-best season in the 1994/95 campaign, where he scored 15 goals in all competitions, he publicly announced his desire to leave the club after four years in Manchester. Reports of a falling out with Ferguson and a disagreement with United's physio may have contributed to his want to seek new pastures, and while he got his wish, he's come to regret his decision.
Ferguson was left baffled by Kanchelskis' decision to leave. He said at the time: "You wonder if someone has got to the boy. He's been told he's valued here but he seems confused." Speaking 23 years after he left for Everton in a then-club record £5million deal, the former Russia international admits he made a mistake.
"Fergie tried to persuade me to stay at United. Deciding to leave was a mistake, but when I left David Beckham started to play. If I’d stayed, maybe nobody would have heard the name David Beckham," Kanchelskis later joked in an interview with FourFourTwo.
While his departure did little to derail United, who went on to win five of the next six league titles, as well as an unprecedented Treble, Kanchelskis revealed that an apology was to be issued to his former team-mates regarding his sale. "When I left United, Ferguson was ready to apologise to the whole team," the former winger told Sport-Express.
