Roy Keane has admitted he was "excited" at the prospect of competing for his place with Juan Sebastian Veron at Man Utd.
The Argentine midfielder was signed by United in 2001 to provide competition for the likes of Keane, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.
United broke the English transfer record to land Veron for £28.5million from Lazio in a real statement from the club following the defence of their Premier League title.
But rather than fear for his position, Keane relished Veron's arrival.
"I always enjoyed that. That was probably my favourite part of being at a brilliant club," Keane told Sky Sports. "When I first went to United you had Incey [Paul Ince], Robbo [Bryan Robson], Butty coming through, Scholesy, and then Veron.
"I used to get excited when the club would sign a big player because that’s the nature of the game.
"Even when I first came to United, I remember shaking hands with Robbo, a player I had big respect for, but Robbo knew I was after his position.
"So when other lads were coming through, and even Veron’s a good example. Veron came to the club, he was an excellent player, okay it didn’t work out for him at United, but he was an excellent player."
Veron never really made the desired impact that was expected of him at Old Trafford, and was shipped out to Chelsea for £15m two years into his stay.
It could be suggested that Keane's role as captain hampered Veron's chances of securing a regular role in the side, but the Irishman feels that wasn't the case.
"I never thought I was any sort of leader, I knew I had to work hard every day to prove myself to get into that starting XI.
"So when Veron came to the club I enjoyed it. I knew it would be another challenge for me.
"And a lot of my biggest challenges for me when I was a player, and it might sound arrogant, was our 11 vs 11 at United.
"We talk a lot about Scholesy, [who] was a brilliant player, but Nicky Butt was also a fantastic player. Good character, good banter in the dressing room, basically a guy you want to be in the trenches with.
"I enjoyed those battles, and they were battles I had to try to win."
