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Sir Alex Ferguson opens up on his ‘mistake’ and lauds Mason Greenwood as a ‘top player’

Legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has opened up on his managerial career and many other topics in a recent interview with Gary Neville at SportsBible.

He is currently promoting his documentary titled Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In which will be released on May 29.

Gary Neville asked Ferguson to name a few players who he would have loved to manage.

The veteran manager picked out three Tottenham Hotspur players – Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Heung-min Son.

Ferguson also went for cross-city rivals’ Sergio Aguero as the fourth player who he would have liked to manage.

He said, “Kane [is one]. I thought Alli was going to be a top player. I must admit, I don’t know what has gone on there.

“Kane and the boy Son at Tottenham, these have been excellent players.

“Aguero has been a terrific striker, there’s no doubt about that. His goal-scoring has been exceptional.

“The top teams will always produce a player that can stand out.”

United met Barcelona in the Champions League final in 2011. 

A 3-1 victory helped the Catalan giants to lift the coveted trophy.

Sir Alex admitted that deploying Park Ji-sung to man-mark Lionel Messi would have helped them to turn the tables but he failed to make that call at the right time.

“I should have changed at half-time and put Ji-sung Park on Messi,” he added. 

“That was a mistake… I was going to do it at half-time, then I said, ‘Well, we just equalised before half-time, they may see the game differently, we may grow into the game better.’.

“We were actually quite good in the last 10 minutes of that half. We came into it and we could have been in front.

“But if I’d played Ji-sung Park against Messi, I think we’d have beat them. I really do.”

It was a goal each from Messi and David Villa in the second half which forced the Red Devils to return empty-handed.

Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden are two of the brightest talents in world football. Both of them are highly touted to have a big future. 

Sir Alex expressed his admiration for Greenwood and predicted that the teenager will have a big future. 

“Mason Greenwood, in my opinion, is going to be a top player,” said Ferguson.

“He’s got the coolness and the coldness of a great striker. 

“He never panics, his shots are always low, he’s always inside the posts. He’s shown great qualities.

“He’s younger than the boy Phil Foden, who is the one player that has come through at Man City who has taken the place of David Silva.

“He’s been tremendous. Those two are the best [young players] in England.”