Bryan Robson completed record Man United transfer over Liverpool after West Brom 'unsettled' him

Bryan Robson has revealed what made him want to leave West Bromwich Albion and join Manchester United in a blockbuster transfer over 40 years ago.

The ex-England midfielder made 252 appearances for the Baggies before leaving in 1982. He moved to Old Trafford for a then-British record transfer fee of £1.5 million, going on to win two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

In a recent interview, however, Robson suggested that he might have been willing to stay at West Brom had they matched his ambition. In the late seventies the club boasted a talented squad that reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1978, and finished third in Division One and reached the Uefa Cup quarter-finals in 1979 under manager Ron Atkinson.

Robson believed that the side could reach even greater heights and bring success to the Hawthorns, but rather than keep the squad together the club sold some of their star players. This was disconcerting for the Chester-born player and ultimately led to him wanting to win trophies elsewhere.

"What unsettled me at West Brom is," Robson told the Quickly Kevin podcast, "we had a really good team in 1978/79 that I thought were really going to go places, but then all of a sudden West Brom sold Laurie Cunningham to Real Madrid and Len Cantello to Bolton Wanderers, who I thought were two of our best players. So that unsettled me, because I wanted to win things in the game."

Robson also revealed that he could have signed for the wildly successful Liverpool team of the eighties instead, with players from both the Reds and Man United trying to tap him up while on international duty with England. In the end 'Captain Marvel' reunited with Big Ron as Liverpool were not willing