Nicky Butt Reveals Staggering Fee Man Utd Players Offered to Sell Treble Medals

Nicky Butt says he was approached by "somebody in China" who wanted to buy all three of his medals from Manchester United's treble-winning campaign.

It remains one of the most remarkable feats in football history.

Back in 1999, United became the first team to win the English treble after overcoming all odds to win the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League titles.

It was a scintillating end to the 98-99 campaign for Sir Alex Ferguson's men, who pipped title-challengers Arsenal to the league title by a single point after coming from behind on the final day to beat Tottenham.

A week later, goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes sealed a relatively straightforward FA Cup final win over Newcastle.

And finally, just four days after their Wembley triumph and without the suspended Paul Scholes and Roy Keane, United scored two goals in stoppage time against Bayern Munich to lift Europe's most prestigious prize for a second time.

As is often the case when somebody achieves such a historic feat, the topic can often dominate conversation, even when that achievement happened more than two decades ago.

Many former players from United's treble-winning side have spoken about their achievement in years gone by, including Paul Scholes, who brought in his medals during a recent episode of The Good, The Bad & The Football.

"I actually shouldn't have that (medal)," said Scholes, who was joined by teammate Nicky Butt on the podcast hosted by Paddy McGuinness. "I didn't even play in the final. They gave an extra couple out for me and Roy."

After a starstruck McGuinness inspected all three medals, Butt recalled receiving an email from a potential buyer.

"Do you know when we first won them three medals," he said. "I remember an email came through and we got offered £500,000 back then from somebody in China."

As per the Bank of England inflation calendar, £500,000 in 1999 would be worth around £963,347.06 in September 2025, with the change in value being estimated at more than 90 per cent.

To put that sum into further perspective, a Premier League winner's medal that was thrown into the crowd by Jose Mourinho in 2016 fetched £16,800 at auction.

Nicky Butt opens up Sir Alex Ferguson's half-time speech during 1999 Champions League final

Asked to reflect on the speech that stood out to him from that treble-winning season, Butt recalled Ferguson's words in the Nou Camp dressing room as United trailed 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.

"I think my favourite thing the manager said was in the final," Butt told SPORTbible last year. "He said: "Don't walk off that pitch and not be able to grab a trophy'. And that was it, you just sit there and go 'wow'.

"That's pretty much it. Don't walk off regretting it because you may never get the chance to get your hands on that trophy again. You don't want to be the one looking sad on the pitch. That was part of his talk. It resonated with me forever."