Ferguson's closed-door plea kept Solskjaer from a £5.5m Tottenham move in 1998

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came within a signed fax of leaving Manchester United for Tottenham Hotspur in 1998, with both clubs having agreed a £5.5m fee before Sir Alex Ferguson intervened personally to keep the Norwegian at Old Trafford.

Solskjaer, now 53, was two seasons into his United career when the transfer was all but complete. The agreed fee represented more than three times the £1.5m United had paid Molde to sign him in 1996, and only his own signature remained outstanding.

Ferguson’s decision to summon Solskjaer for a private meeting proved the turning point. “Everything was agreed. The two clubs had signed and were just waiting for me,” Solskjaer said in November 2010. “The gaffer called me into his office and closed the door. He said the conversation was just going to be between the two of us. He told me I would be a big part of his squad and he didn’t want me to go.”

The striker left no doubt about how close the move came. “If he had said all the best in your career, I would have gone. But he wanted me to stay and so I signed. Hopefully I paid back the £5.5million that had been agreed with Spurs. But it is strange now to look at that fax.”

The consequences of Ferguson’s intervention reverberated across European football. The following season, Solskjaer scored the stoppage-time winner against Bayern Munich at Camp Nou to complete United’s historic Treble — one of the most celebrated goals in Champions League history.

His broader contribution to United was equally substantial. Despite arriving with modest expectations — Eric Cantona was the club’s leading striker at the time — Solskjaer netted 18 Premier League goals in his debut season, outperforming the Frenchman. He ultimately spent 11 years at Old Trafford, scoring 126 goals in 366 appearances and winning nine major honours, including six Premier League titles.

Tottenham did eventually sign a United forward, bringing Teddy Sheringham back to north London on a free transfer in 2001. But the player who might have reshaped both clubs’ trajectories had already written his name into Old Trafford folklore.