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Rangers hero Ronald de Boer reveals why he SNUBBED Man Utd to move to Ibrox
RANGERS hero Ronald de Boer has revealed he turned down Manchester United in favour of a move to Scotland back in 2000.
The Holland midfielder won the domestic treble with the Gers after leaving Barcelona for Ibrox at the turn of the new millennium.
However, he had the chance to link up with Sir Alex Ferguson at United and says he did not join them over concerns about the amount of first-team opportunities he would have been given.
Rangers also had a number of Dutch players at the club under manager Dick Advocaat, including the likes of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Mols and Arthur Numan.
“When I went to Rangers I could have also chosen Manchester United,” the former attacking midfielder told talkSPORT.
“People said at the time ‘how could you not choose it?’
“I talked about it with Ferguson and he said ‘we only have two players who always play who are Roy Keane and David Beckham and the rest I rotate a lot.
“So you will be with [Nicky] Butt, [Paul] Scholes and the other guys.
“You will be rotated but I want you in the team’.
“But I had a little bit of fear over my left knee and if they said ‘you are not fit enough and we can’t take you because of your knee’.
“I would have a stamp on my forehead saying that I was not suitable for football.
“With Rangers I thought I had a better chance going there, with a four-year contract, and I was going to play there for sure.”
De Boer went on to score 40 goals in 139 appearances for the club between 2000 and 2004.
His only Scottish Premiership title came in 2003 when Rangers won the treble.
He also won the Scottish Cup as a Gers player in 2002.
De Boer was part of the Ajax team that won the Champions League in 1995 and he won five league titles in Holland as well as the La Liga title with Barcelona in 1999.