'Man Utd tried to sign me twice – I turned them down as I was Arsenal through and through'

It takes a lot of guts to say no to Sir Alex Ferguson, but Tony Adams plucked up the courage to do so on two separate occasions. The legendary Arsenal skipper is generally considered one of the finest centre backs in English football history, and was at the peak of his powers during the 1990s.

For much of the decade, Arsenal and Manchester United were battling it out at the top of the Premier League, and Ferguson tried his best to lure the Gunners’ top defender to Old Trafford. But Adams resisted, and ended up spending the entirity of his career at Arsenal, racking up a whopping 672 appearances for the club.

In his autobiogrophy, ‘SOBER: Football. My Story. My Life’, Adams, who turned 58 on Thursday, insisted that despite talk of a move to United, leaving Highbury was never an option. “Manchester United twice tried to sign me but I turned them down both times because I was Arsenal through and through,” he wrote.

“The first time was after we had won the title in 1991. It was at an England get-together and Bryan Robson spoke to me about it, perhaps having been asked by Sir Alex Ferguson to have a quiet word. Tapping up? Of course, and anyone who doesn’t think it goes on in the game informally all the time is being naive.

“The second United approach came in ’96, in the autumn just five weeks after I had stopped drinking and in that period of uncertainty when Arsene Wenger was taking over from the sacked Bruce Rioch,” Adams added. “I guess Sir Alex might also have wanted me because, as well as feeling he might be strengthening United, he might be weakening Arsenal.”

Romford-born Adams joined Arsenal as a 14-year-old in 1980 and made his senior debut just three years later. By 18, he had established himself as a first-team regular, and at 21, he was named club captain.

Adams played a pivotal role in ending Arsenal’s 18-year league title drought in 1989, and he lifted the trophy again in 1991. With Arsene Wenger’s arrival in 1996, Arsenal entered a dominant era of success, with Adams unsurprsingly at the heart of the team’s triumphs.

He retired in 2002 after the Gunners’ clinched an historic league and cup double, and rode off into the sunset with four league titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup under his belt.

Ferguson’s inability to lure Adams to Manchester United was a reflection of the era. During his 26-year tenure at Old Trafford, the Scot only succeeded in signing one player directly from Arsenal: Robin van Persie, whom he convinced to join in 2012.

Such was the intensity of the rivalrly between the two clubs in the 90s and 00s that just five players have donned both shirts since the turn of the Millennium; Mikael Silvestre, Van Persie, Danny Welbeck, Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.