Phil Jones reacts to Sir Alex Ferguson's infamous 'best ever Manchester United player' comment

05.04.2022 - 11:03 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Manchester United defender Phil Jones has described the comments made by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013 on his potential at the club as 'unbelievable'.

Ferguson brought the England international to Old Trafford from Blackburn in 2011. Despite winning the Premier League in his second season at the club, Jones has seen his career plagued by injuries and he's made just three league appearances since the start of the 2019/20 campaign.

After United had secured the Premier League title with a win over Aston Villa in 2013, Ferguson hailed Jones and tipped the United central defender to go on to achieve great things. "Jones, arguably, the way he is looking, could be our best ever player," he said of the centre-back.

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Jones has never really threatened to live up to the billing afforded to him by the Scot, despite spending over a decade at Old Trafford. He's now opened up on what it felt like to have such a legend of the game speak so highly of him.

"Unbelievable experience, unbelievable man. I was so nervous but I owe him so much," he told The Guardian.

"It was unbelievable that someone of Sir Alex’s magnitude said that but it was one of them games [against Aston Villa] where I couldn’t care less how I played as long as we won it and the title. For me, the best moment was when [Wayne Rooney] plays that 40-yard pass and Robin [van Persie], looking over his shoulder, volleys it in the corner.

"That’s giving me goosebumps now thinking about it. To be a young lad, just 21, and winning the Premier League was incredible."

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