Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that former United defender Gabriel Heinze had a mercenary streak about him. The Argentine defender was brought to the club from PSG in 2004.

He had the capability of playing at left back or in central defence. He had cost the Premier league outfit around £ 7 million in transfer value. He was at the club for only three years before being sold to Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2007. However, he tried to engineer a move to Liverpool during his time at United much to the dismay of Ferguson.

Liverpool and Manchester United share a great rivalry and Ferguson was simply not going to sell one of his players to Liverpool.

However, Heinze approaching the Premier league tribunal in order to force them, but these attempts did not end in success for the player. Ferguson has now suggested in his autobiography that Heinze attempted to use Crystal Palace as a stop gap solution in order to force his move to Liverpool. Heinze’s agent approached Crystal Palace with a view of them being an intermediate stop.

However, Crystal Palace did not proceed with the request and instead said about the same to Manchester United’s Chief executive David Gill. This ultimately proved to be the major evidence in preventing Heinze’s departure.

During his three years at the club, Heinze made 52 appearances in all competitions and scored one goal. He was successful at United by winning the Premier league in his final season at the club, while also lifting the League Cup as well. He is currently playing with Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys where he started his career back in the 1996 season.

The 35-year-old has also represented the Argentine national team on 72 occasions. He has not been part of the national team since 2010.