Manchester United saw transfer rejected after being told bid would 'only buy player's right leg'

Manchester United were once told their transfer bid would "only buy the player's right leg".

The damning response came when the Red Devils were pursuing the signing of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United. The then-promising England centre-back had been impressing for club and country for a number of years, with Sir Alex Ferguson and United bosses liking what they had seen of the defender.

But United low-balled cash-strapped Leeds in the 2002 summer transfer window, or at least so the Yorkshire club claimed. Former United CEO David Gill recalled their negotiations as he discussed transfers on Ferdinand's Vibe With Five podcast.

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"Each deal was sort of the same but also slightly different," Gill explained. "Certain players there might be competition for and are more difficult to get. Clearly other players we knew we could get to, for example (gestures to Ferdinand).

"Just on that, it's a funny story. Peter Kenyon was chief exec at the time, and we were looking at Rio, so we made an offer to Leeds. Peter Risdale was the chairman at the time.

"Anyway so I went over the Peter Kenyon's house, which is in the Cheshire countryside, and Peter Risdale was coming over. So we'd faxed him an offer for Rio, and Peter Risdale responded, 'Well that might buy his right leg.' And that was it, you see."

Leeds eventually accepted a bid of £29.3million, potentially rising up to £33.3m with performance-related add-ons, from the Old Trafford chiefs due to their financial struggles.

While that made Ferdinand the most expensive British footballer