BY ERIC KING
Football commentator and former Tottenham Hotspur striker, Gary Lineker, has revealed how he almost joined Manchester United instead of Tottenham, in an interview with FourFourTwo.
After a successful three years at Barcelona, that saw his team win at the Copa Del Rey and European Cup Winners’ Cup, Lineka was pretty much a happy man. However, the arrival of new manager Johan Cruyff saw Lineka pushed out to the wing and this annoyed him.The falling out led Lineker in pursuit of a new club, and Tottenham came knocking on his door.
He had in the past been managed by former Barcelona manager Terry Venables ,who was keen to work with the striker again. However, the deal almost fell through leading to Lineker almost joining league rivals United.
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“Right at the 11th hour it suddenly appeared that Spurs might not be able to do the deal, financially,” Lineker told FourFourTwo. “That’s when my agent spoke with Alex Ferguson, who was keen to take me to Old Trafford. “It was close to being done, but then Tottenham came back and said they could do it. You have to remember that the Manchester United of 1989 weren’t the Manchester United of four or five years later”.
FIFA RECORD
The 54 year old who is currently a sports broadcaster holds England’s records for goals in FIFA World Cup finals, having scored 10 goals. His career began at Leicester City where he finished as the First Division’s top goal scorer in 1984-85 despite failing to score in his first ten games.He moved to Everton where he scored 30 goals out of 41 games and won the Copa del Rey in 1988 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1989. In an eight year international career, scored 48 goals out of 80 caps, and is currently England’s third highest scorer- behind Wayne Rooney and Bobby Charlton.
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FAIR PLAY AWARD
Amazingly, Lineka was never cautioned by a referee and never awarded a yellow or red card. Because of this he was honoured in 1990 with the FIFA Fair Play Award.Who knows, has he signed for Man U, the influences in his life that made his career so smooth and successful may have been altered.
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