“I remember that I arrived in Manchester on a Thursday and by Saturday I had already played my first game – at Anfield, of all places, against Liverpool!”
“Liverpool came in for me before I signed for United.
“But Sir Alex also asked me to join and convinced me to do so.
“Everything looked easy when I joined. You put your shirt on and you know you are going to win.
“Even when we went one or two goals behind, we kept coming back and winning.
“The first two years I was there we won the league title – it was amazing.”
Gerard Houllier was disappointed when Liverpool failed to sign Mikael Silvestre. He was even more upset when he signed for Manchester United and made his debut at Anfield two days later.
I worked for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos – he should learn from previous mistakes at Manchester United
The French defender was on the radar of many top sides following an impressive season with Inter Milan, but when a phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson came, it was always going to be difficult to turn down.
Silvestre had played against United the previous season as they went on to clinch the Champions League and a famous Treble. He missed the quarter-final first leg at Old Trafford but put in an impressive display for the rematch at the Giuseppe Meazza.
And when Marcello Lippi arrived at Inter and recruited another wing-back, Grigoris Georgatos, the young defender was eager to explore new opportunities.
“My game time was going to diminish and I wanted to play. Gerard Houllier had been my coach at youth level in France, so we knew each other well, and he called to ask if I wanted to join Liverpool,” he recalled.
“He said he wanted me to play left-back for them, and that while the competition would be there, I was in a good position to start most games.
“However, Alex Ferguson phoned me a few days later to register his interest. The choice was easy to make, because United had just won the Treble.
“Sir Alex was like, “You’re going to play left-back and centre-back – I need you for both positions.” I remember that I arrived in Manchester on a Thursday and by Saturday I had already played my first game – at Anfield, of all places, against Liverpool!”
