Gary Neville has admitted that he thought there was 'no way' Alan Shearer would turn Manchester United down and move to Newcastle United after personally trying to convince his England team-mate to move to Old Trafford.
Shearer, famously, held several rounds of secret talks with both Sir Alex Ferguson and Kevin Keegan in the summer of 1996 after deciding he wanted to leave Blackburn Rovers.
At one point, Shearer was 90% sure he was on his way to Manchester United; the striker had even picked out a house with his wife, Lainya.
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However, Keegan ultimately convinced Shearer to join his boyhood club as Newcastle stumped up a world-record fee - £15.6m all told - to leave Neville reeling.
"I thought we had him that summer," the former Manchester United skipper said on Carragher and Neville's ultimate transfer special. "I just thought, past Euro 96, there's no way he's going to go to Newcastle from Blackburn.
"I had spoken to him. I think I lost the deal! I had gone to a Bryan Adams concert with him. I had spoken to him at Euro 96.
"I just thought there was no way he was going to turn us down. We had just won the double.
"I just thought there was no way he was not going to come to Manchester United and that was the one where I thought, 'How has he gone to Newcastle?'
"Newcastle, at the time, were unbelievable. Kevin Keegan was the manager. Obviously, we just pipped them to the title the year before so it wasn't a shock in that he was going to a club that was down here. He wasn't - he was going to a great club.
"I just thought we had him and that was the one I thought, 'He's a proper player. He'll make Newcastle a top team.'"
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