Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that he was not Sir Alex Ferguson’s first-choice signing when the Norwegian arrived at Manchester United in 1996.
The striker was something of a budget buy when he swapped Norwegian side Molde for the Red Devils in a £1.5million move.
During 11 seasons with the club he would turn out 366 times and scores 126 goals, including one of the most famous strikes in Manchester United history when he plundered the winning goal in stoppage time of the the 1999 European Cup final to secure a historic treble.
But it could all have been different, if the boss had got his way, back in 1996.
“Sir Alex wanted Alan Shearer, and who could blame him? He was the best goalscorer,” Solskjaer admits to FourFourTwo. “But many goals doesn’t guarantee trophies. United signed a cheaper striker – and I hope the gaffer was happy with me.”
Shearer was coming off a Golden Boot-winning performance in Euro 96 and would return to his hometown Newcastle United that summer for a world record fee of £15million.
Solskjaer did not let the expectations that came with such a big move get to him however, as he reflects on his early days at Old Trafford.
“I felt no pressure whatsoever,” insists Solskjaer. “It felt like a privilege. I was six minutes into my debut when I scored. Eric Cantona was the first one to celebrate with me, David Beckham was the second. I looked around at the crowd going mad and I had all the players thanking me. That was a wow moment, the start of something special. I played with some of the best players in the world, but then we were one of the best teams in the world.
“We had a great dressing room. We challenged each other, we loved each other, we fought with each other in the dressing room because we needed to win. We had some fiery characters. David May was the joker, Paul Scholes was the silent assassin, sat there at the back throwing comments. Giggsy was the entertainer. Eric Cantona set the mood. When he came into the dressing room, everyone just sat down and looked at him. Everyone looked up to him.”
Cantona was perhaps the catalyst for Sir Alex’s first great Red Devils team and Solskjaer has revealed how he learned of the Frenchman’s retirement, in typical enigmatic fashion.
“Eric and I – plus Jordi Cruyff – became friends. We had a party at the end of my first season. We went to a restaurant, partied hard and said goodbye with our wives and girlfriends. The next day, we went to London and heard on the radio that Eric Cantona had retired. We’d only said goodbye at 4am that day – that was what Eric was like. He was about to shock football and he didn’t say a word to his mates the night before. It was sad for us all, but I enjoyed one year playing with one of the best team-mates ever.”
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