In an interview with the Sunday Times Ferguson admits that had he signed Shearer rather than Eric Cantona he believes the Red Devils would have had more success in the Champions League.
When asked about missing out on Brazil midfielder Ronaldinho this summer Ferguson replies: “Am I surprised Ronaldinho turned us down? No. Other players have done it. Alan Shearer did it twice. It’s interesting if you look down the years at what has transpired.
“We didn’t get Gazza. He chose to sign for Tottenham. But Paul Ince came and did a great job for us. We made an inquiry about Stan Collymore but got no farther so instead we bought Andy Cole.
“When we missed out on Shearer, we got Eric Cantona. And who’s to say what would have happened if Shearer had come instead of Eric?
“In terms of bringing charisma to the club, Eric had an impact that Shearer could never have matched. Yet, in the long term, Shearer could have won us the European Cup. I think he was the missing ingredient for us in Europe, different to the players we had at the time. Shearer was a fantastic player. But Cantona was unbelievable for us.”
There’s no denying that Cantona did an amazing job for the Old Trafford outfit, but it is interesting to hear that Ferguson rates Shearer as a better player.
One thing Cantona never did for the Red Devils was play at his best on the European stage so Ferguson’s opinions are perhaps understandable, but I doubt many of their fans will agree with him (and if they did they wouldn’t admit it to us), and Shearer is guaranteed to carry on receiving his normal barracking when we face them in three weeks time.