Former Liverpool fullback Christian Ziege has revealed he almost joined Manchester United.

Ziege says he could have been a part of one of Sir Alex Ferguson's best Manchester United teams.

He told FourFourTwo: "I was linked with quite a lot of teams [in 1997], but I wanted to go to Italy.

"Almost all of the best footballers were out there, because England had the problem with not playing in Europe for five seasons [after the Heysel disaster].

"I had offers from Barcelona, Juventus, Milan, Atletico Madrid and Newcastle – and I was talking to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United at one stage, but my decision was made.

"I told him it would have been better if he had called me up earlier, as Manchester United were massive at the time, but I was happy to join Milan."