Giggs pestered Man City's Elliot Anderson on holiday to join United before £116m move

Ryan Giggs spent several holes of a holiday golf round trying to talk Elliot Anderson into signing for Manchester United this summer, only for the midfielder to eventually tell the Old Trafford icon to “leave him alone” — days before Anderson completed a £116 million move to Manchester City from Nottingham Forest.

Giggs described the encounter, which took place in Portugal in the days leading up to the World Cup, on Rio Ferdinand Presents: The Debrief. “It was literally a few days before he went to the World Cup. I peppered him,” Giggs said. “He didn’t know how to take it at first, and then he relaxed a little bit. But for the first four or five holes, we were literally crossing. And at the end of it, he went, ‘will you just let me, leave me alone. Will you just let me play my golf, please? You’re in trouble.’”

Ferdinand sympathised with the approach, noting that the price tag ultimately put United out of the running. “It’s mad, though. Obviously, the price tag was crazy. And it’s just like astronomical money. And Man United ain’t got the budget to pay for that,” he said.

City’s £116 million outlay on the 23-year-old England international made Anderson one of the most expensive midfielders in Premier League history. United, unable to match that figure, instead spent a reported £155 million across three midfield signings — Youri Tielemans, Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos — to strengthen manager Michael Carrick’s squad before the summer transfer deadline.

Carrick acknowledged the difficulty of the window without referencing Anderson directly. “Transfer windows are never straightforward and this window in particular has been challenging for different reasons,” he said. “There’s a lot of money being spent in and around the league itself, and I think we’ve made the most of the situation that we’ve found ourselves in.”

The United manager remained confident his side had emerged stronger regardless. “I think we’ve brought some really good players into the football club, and improved the squad in different ways, individually but collectively,” Carrick added. “I’m convinced we are stronger than we were at the start.”