Sir Alex Ferguson would have 'done anything to keep' Man Utd cult hero whose name was mentioned 'in awe' by teammates

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed the one player he wished he kept at Old Trafford during his 26-season spell at Manchester United.

It's been 11 years since Ferguson retired from management and handed the keys to Old Trafford over to David Moyes who left Everton to fulfill Sir Alex's wishes.

Since then United have had eight different managers in charge and slowly slipped down the pecking order in English football from league favourites to European contenders.

Last campaign Erik ten Hag guided the club to their worst-ever finish in the Premier League era as they ended the season sat in 8th but managed to salvage European football through their FA Cup victory.

Those kind of stats seemed incomprehensible during the Sir Alex years, with the Scot attracting the world's best players across four separate decades.

Sir Alex saw the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Roy Keane, and Eric Cantona all leave the club, but the 82-year-old has revealed it was another exit that hurt him the most.

The player in question was Henrik Larsson, who joined on a short-term loan deal in 2007, where he only made seven Premier League appearances, scoring one goal.

"I have always admired him," Ferguson said on his arrival in 2007 via the MEN.

"I made a move for him when he was at Celtic but then they managed to persuade him to stay. He is a great player. It is a terrific bit of business for us."

Despite not making a major impact on the pitch, Sir Alex was gutted to see him go and spoke incredibly highly of the Swedish international after he decided against making the move permanent.

"He's been fantastic for us, his professionalism, his attitude, everything he's done has been excellent," Ferguson commented.

Henrik Larsson- Getty

"We would love him to stay but, obviously, he has made his promise to his family and Helsingborg and I think we should respect that but I would have done anything to keep him."

It wasn't just Ferguson who was impressed with Larsson, as the former United boss has since revealed his players were also starstruck by his abilities.

"On arrival at United, he seemed a bit of a cult figure with our players. They would say his name in awed tones," Ferguson wrote in his second autobiography.

"For a man of 35 years of age, his receptiveness to information on the coaching side was amazing. At every session he was rapt. He wanted to listen to Carlos (Queiroz), the tactics lectures; he was into every nuance of what we did," he added.