Juan Sebastian Veron on Sir Alex Ferguson comments and best Man Utd team-mate

Juan Sebastian Veron didn’t enjoy the best spell of his career at Manchester United, but was once referred to as a “f***ing great player” by Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Argentine midfielder struggled to settle at Old Trafford after joining from Lazio in 2001 in an English record transfer worth £28million.

He played 82 times in all competitions for the Red Devils, but was never able to recapture his best form and was sold to Chelsea after Roman Abramovich’s takeover of the club in 2003.

Ferguson wasn’t shy about defending his biggest signing in the face of media criticism, however, and once launched an x-rated defence of Veron.

He said while storming out of a press conference: “He is a fucking great player. And you're all fucking idiots."

And speaking to FourFourTwo, Veron opened up on how he reacted to Ferguson’s comments, and discussed his relationship with the legendary manager.

He said: “He was so demanding with everybody. If you couldn’t keep up, it was clear you would have to look elsewhere.

“He was always forthright with me, but he had my back from day one, which was very much appreciated. At some points, I wasn’t able to give him everything he expected from me consistently.

“He got it in a few matches but not in others, and if you want to be a great player, your game has to be stable. I couldn’t deliver it at Old Trafford.”

Veron went on to admit that the language barrier was difficult for him to get over, and admitted he stopped the English lessons United had set up for him.

“The language barrier was an issue for me too, but I had very friendly relationships with my team-mates,” he added.

“That said, it was probably an issue in my social life outside the club. That was my fault – I’ve never enjoyed studying in my life! Obviously United provided an English teacher for me, but I took a couple of classes and then gave it up.”

Veron also picked the best team-mate he played with during his time at Old Trafford, referring to Paul Scholes as the “full package” as a midfielder.

He said: “It was a pleasure to train and share moments with all of them. But if I had to pick only one, it would be Scholes. He was the full package. He could recover the ball, attack and shoot extremely well, and he was clever – a terrific reader of the game. He had everything.”

The latest issue of FourFourTwo is on sale on Wednesday and has an in-depth feature on Tottenham and South Korea forward Son Heung-min, while former Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool defender Kolo Toure answers your questions and there are exclusive interviews with Liverpool keeper Alisson and Chelsea defender Thiago Silva for £3 visit:
www.magazinesdirect.com/fft/81av

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