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Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam admits he should have fought harder to remain at the club when he was sold in 2001.
Stam arrived in England in 1998 from PSV Eindhoven for £10.75million – a then world-record fee for a defender.
The Dutchman was extremely crucial to United winning the 1999 treble and was widely regarded as one of the world’s best in his position.
With the Red Devils, Stam amassed three Premier League titles in total and of course the Champions League.
The former player’s time at Old Trafford came to a premature and unceremonious end when he was sold to Lazio for £16million.
Sir Alex Ferguson and the centre-back fell out over claims the latter made in his autobiography that United approached him without PSV’s approval.
The legendary United boss later admitted that it was a huge mistake to let Stam depart.
Stam spoke to the Stick to Football podcast and opened up on his United spell.
“Sometimes I do [wish I said no to leaving Manchester United] because you’re also curious about what would have happened at that time. [If I stayed], would you still get the chance to play again?”
“You feel so comfortable over there, you’re doing well – winning trophies – you’re being respected, just signed a new deal, you want to stay for a long time, of course you need to perform as well. Then suddenly, from out of the blue, there’s this message that they’ve sold you.”
“I told them that it’s not a problem that you get rid of players, or need to sell players, but if they just come up to you and say ‘Jaap, there’s an offer, we need to have money, we need to agree, we need to accept this offer because of certain reasons.”
“Then you can like it or not. But at least they tell you the truth in how things are going.”
Stam would go on to play for clubs like AC Milan and Aja before he retired in 2007.
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