Federico Macheda names the only regret he has about his time at Manchester United

Federico Macheda has explained the one regret he has about the way his time at Manchester United came to an end.

The Italian's start to life in the United first team could not have gone much better with the winger scoring deep into stoppage time to earn Sir Alex Ferguson's side a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa in the 2008/09 season. However, Macheda would only go on to make another 35 appearances for the Reds before he left on a free transfer in 2014 to Cardiff City.

In the six years between making his debut and leaving Old Trafford, Macheda had loan spells at Sampdoria, QPR, Stuttgart, Doncaster Rovers and Birmingham City. Speaking on Rio Ferdinand's Vibe with Five podcast, the now 31-year-old explained what he wished he could change about his time at Old Trafford.

ALSO READ: Ferdinand sends message to Maguire

"I have regrets about not keeping working hard as before I got into the first team," he explained. "When I got to the first team, for me everything was amazing.

"But when you do well, your concentration drops. That doesn't allow you to keep working for something bigger, that was what was the missing thing for me - I didn't work for the next bigger thing at my time at Manchester United.

"If that is one regret I have it is this one because I should have done a lot more with the chances I had with the first team when I had ten minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes or starts because I had a lot of them. For an 18-year-old it is not normal.

"I knew I was very good physically, my character was confident but I had to keep going in terms of wanting more. I was enjoying this moment yes too much but I didn't think it was easy because after those games [against Villa], I didn't have the chance to play every week."

READ NEXT: