Gabriel Heinze was so angry Man United wouldn’t grant Liverpool transfer the lawyers got involved as saga turned ugly

When it comes to playing for Manchester United, there is one unwritten but simple rule: don’t play for Liverpool.

But defender Gabriel Heinze clearly didn’t understand this when he tried to force a move to the Red Devils’ arch-rivals in 2007.

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The defender was aiming to become the first player to move directly between the two clubs since Phil Chisnall’s £25,000 move to Anfield in 1964, and only the third in Premier League history after Michael Owen and Paul Ince.

However, he did not take into account legendary manager Alex Ferguson’s dislike of Liverpool, which led him to intervene and block the deal. After all, Fergie had spent years building United into a team capable of “knocking Liverpool off their perch”. Heinze’s response was to hire a Liverpool-based law firm.

Heinze’s agent Roberto Rodriguez is said to have been told by then United boss David Gill that the left-back could leave for £6.8million.

But United did not expect that offer to come from above, with coach Rafa Benitez trying to persuade the Argentina international to link up with Steven Gerrard and co.

An offer of £6.8 million was made, but to Heinze’s anger and dismay, United rejected the offer as Ferguson was adamant that a transfer to Merseyside was out of the question.

At the time, Ferguson said: “I can assure you that Liverpool are not going to get Gabriel Heinze. We can stop that now, and that’s what we did.”

“We had a few offers for him and turned them down. Heinze’s advisors are always on the ball.”

“But no matter what his agent thinks, we’re in the driver’s seat. I don’t know exactly what Gaby is thinking because it’s all coming from his agent, but this has been going on for a year and a half now.”

He added: “We are aware that he is seeking legal advice but that is good. I just hope it’s good advice because we’re very confident.”

“I am aware that there are suggestions that he is involving Liverpool’s lawyers but that doesn’t worry me. He either has a case or he doesn’t.”

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Benitez, who was baffled by United’s refusal to sell Heinze to the Reds, said: “It’s clear he’s a player we like and he’s a very good player.”

“That’s why they don’t want him to go to us. We made an offer that they rejected. The lawyers are working on it now and so we have to wait.”

Then it emerged that Crystal Palace had been offered the chance to buy Heinze and then immediately move him to Liverpool, where they would earn a million pounds as compensation for their problems.

The Pitch Prospect presenter and former Eagles chairman Simon Jordan revealed this in his diary Be careful what you wish for that Phil Alexander, the club’s CEO, received a request from someone named James Green, who claimed to represent a South American agency called Soccer SA.

He wrote: “The gist of the conversation was that this agent wanted Crystal Palace to buy Gabriel Heinze from Manchester United and then immediately sell him on to Liverpool.”

Jordan added: “My position was that there was no way we would get involved and I asked Alexander to contact David Gill, the Manchester United chief executive, and tell him about these attempted shenanigans, which he duly did .”

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“Of course I took the opportunity to get Phil to tell Gill that we wanted them to remember the favor.

“The result was that there was an ongoing Premier League dispute between Heinze and United and we had to make a statement and these strange and unclear matters were resolved by others.”

The evidence from the meeting was later used in the hearing, which United won.

After losing his bid to join the Anfield team, Heinze told the Daily Mail: “My fight is for the freedom to negotiate with any club.”

“United never wanted me to go to one of the big clubs but this anti-Liverpool clause is unbelievable.”

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Liverpool expected Heinze to appeal the decision, but that never happened as United accepted an offer from Real Madrid.

Realizing his dream transfer was over, he joined Los Blancos, where he helped the Spaniards win the LaLiga title in their inaugural season.

Heinze, who won the Premier League in 2007, later expressed regret at trying to force a move to United’s rivals and stressed he hoped fans still viewed him positively given his performances in their shirt.

The answer was clear when Heinze returned to Old Trafford with Marseille in the Champions League in 2011.

Cries of “You Scouse b******” rang out in the Theater of Dreams, showing that the faithful of the United States had neither forgiven nor forgotten his actions.

It was a sad end to a great career and even the player regretted how things ended.

“I don’t have much regret about my career as a footballer, but I do have this episode with Ferguson.” [has] I want to be one of them,” he said before the European Cup game. “I am impulsive and strong-willed and that has sometimes gotten me into trouble, which was the case when I left United.”

“I spent three years in Manchester and had some great moments that I regret.” [leaving the club] a lot. I am a strong personality, Sir Alex is a strong personality. I made the decision and looking back I regret it because it meant leaving a great club and its fans.

“I was aware of the rivalry [with Liverpool]I knew the risk of moving from Manchester to Liverpool and what it meant. I hope it doesn’t affect the way they look [the supporters] When you see me, they will remember the three years I spent with the team.

Almost 20 years have passed since the transfer saga and no player from either side has dared to bridge the gap. It even made subsequent managers think twice, as Jurgen Klopp once said he rejected the idea of ​​a Zlatan Ibrahimovic move due to his short spell in Manchester.

Gerrard’s father once gave him a scuffle for daring to wear a United top because his childhood football hero Bryan Robson had played for them.

The battle lines are laid out very clearly for everyone.

And the closer we get to the latest meeting between the two great rivals at Anfield, the more United will want to have someone of Heinze’s strength in defense.

United have not won any of their last eight away league games against Liverpool (draw four, lost four), their longest such streak since a run of nine away games between 1970 and 1979.

It’s no wonder everyone from Gary Neville to those on The Pitch Prospect’s Inside Devils program are fearing the worst.