Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson: You need to win press

Sir Alex Ferguson says Anthony Martial’s form so far for Manchester United is the ideal response to claims that his potential £58.7 million fee was “ridiculous”.

Ferguson says Everton pulled out all the stops to prevent Rooney joining United in 2004, including an emotional phone call from the player’s mother.

Ferguson writes: “When the Glazers and David Gill agreed to a big increase in Wayne Rooney’s salary in 2010, they wanted to know how I felt”.

The former United manager recalls: “I told them I did not think it fair that Rooney should earn twice what I made and (joint-chairman) Joel Glazer immediately said: “I totally agree with you but what should we do”?”

The Scot admits he considered signing controversial striker Mario Balotelli in 2010, but was put off after speaking to a number of his Italian contacts.

“I had dinner with Pep Guardiola in New York in 2012, but couldn’t make him any direct proposal because retirement was not on my agenda at that point”, Ferguson wrote.

“It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid”.

Ferguson ended his 26-year tenure with United at the end of the 2012-13 Premier League season, with then-Everton manager Moyes revealed as his successor a day later. “Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup”.

“Ryan Giggs is eventually going to be a great manager – he has intelligence, presence and knowledge”, said Ferguson, who describes Giggs, Paul Scholes, Eric Cantona and Cristiano Ronaldo as the only four truly world-class players he managed at United.

Balotelli subsequently joined Manchester City from Inter Milan, returning to Italy for a second spell at AC Milan this year following a disappointing season with Liverpool. “There are one or two football agents I simply do not like”, Ferguson said. I distrusted him from the moment I met him.

“Such as keeping Mick Phelan [Ferguson’s assistant], who would have been the invaluable guide to the many layers of the club that Ryan Giggs is to Louis van Gaal today”.

The 73-year-old Scot defends the quality of the squad that his successor David Moyes inherited in 2013, saying criticism of United’s players made it sound like “I had left 11 corpses on the steps of a funeral”.