Former Tottenham boss David Pleat has revealed how Sir Alex Ferguson feared never signing Wayne Rooney for Manchester United.

Paying tribute to Ryan Giggs, Pleat says only the Welshman and Rooney have excited him when seeing them play as juniors.

He told the Daily Mail: "When I was manager at Leicester in the 80s we played Manchester United in a Youth Cup game. They had a winger called Ryan Wilson and I knew as soon as I saw him he was going to be a star. I told Alex (Ferguson) what I thought and he told me how special a player he was going to be. He changed his name, of course, to Giggs and went on to be as good as I had predicted.

"Ironically the only other player who has given me that buzz as a youngster was a schoolboy from Everton called Wayne Rooney. I talked to Alex about him, too, and at the time he thought there was no way he could get him. It's ironic to see them both performing so brilliantly in today's United side."