Inside story of Sir Alex Ferguson's failed Man Utd transfer pursuit of Gareth Bale

A former manager of Gareth Bale has revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson made a failed bid for the player when he was just a youngster.

George Burley was in charge of Southampton from 2005-08 and handed the Welshman his debut.

Bale became the second-youngest player to play for Southampton, after Theo Walcott, at the age of just 16.

He made a good start to his career on the left side of The Saints' defence, which prompted Fergie to make an optimistic offer for his talents.

"He was like a winger playing at full-back," Burley recalled to The Athletic. " Manchester United were interested in him. I remember going to a hotel and speaking to Sir Alex and his chief executive.

"We’d already sold Theo Walcott for £12 million [to Arsenal in January 2006] and they offered three or four million so we said ‘no way’.

"I think they were a little bit worried about his defensive side of the game, which we were working at, but he could handle that."

Bale of course ended up signing for Tottenham instead in 2007, as Southampton accepted an initial £5million, with the fee rising to £10million based on appearances.

After a stuttering start to life at Spurs - where he had the unenviable record of going 24 Premier League games without a win - Bale finally found his form, before sealing a world record breaking transfer to Real Madrid in 2013.

Few would have predicted Bale to have as successful a career as he has gone on to achieve - least of all United, who have been continually linked with the superstar since.

Former Liverpool midfielder Darren Potter joined Southampton on loan for the second half of the 2005-06 season, and noted Bale's dramatic improvement.

"Obviously the one big difference between then and now was that he was seen as left-back and you see what he has gone on to do now… scoring overhead kicks in the Champions League final is completely chalk and cheese from where he was then to who he is now," Potter said.

"He was very unassuming, really quiet off the pitch, and wouldn’t be the most vocal on the pitch either.

"But you see the shift in him, once he was at Tottenham and he went from being… he was always a really good athlete, but he bulked himself up as well and, as time went on… he’s just an absolute specimen now isn’t he?"

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