Former Lazio youth boss Volfango Patarca says Manchester United rescued Federico Macheda's career.

Macheda was ready to give up football because of the way Lazio had treated his family, says Patarca, before United stepped in.

His parents struggled just to pay Macheda's travelling costs for the daily 100-mile round trip to training but Patarca, 64, claims Lazio snubbed requests from the player's father, Pasquale, for help.

"Three times Pasquale asked Lazio for financial help, because it was so tough trying to get Kiko to the training ground every day," said Patarca. "It cost money and time away from work. Pasquale asked for the club to fix him up with a job. I believe as little as 500 euros a month could have solved the problem.

"But my understanding is that Lazio only offered to help once they realised that Manchester United were interested in Federico.

"That was too late because they hadn't seemed to believe in him enough before. So thank God for Manchester United. What would have happened if they hadn't been interested and Kiko's parents had been left with the problem of trying to find the time and money to take the boy such a long way to training every day?

"Without Manchester United, I believe he would have had to stop playing. He would have had to finish with football and would have been lost to the game. Instead, he is in England, where United have helped him to mature far more quickly than he would have done in Italy.

"You cannot go wrong with Sir Alex Ferguson. Lazio should just be quiet and learn from their mistakes."