Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits he considered signing Petr Cech before he moved to Chelsea.

He told the Daily Mail: "I think Chelsea probably had a better nucleus. They bought well under Claudio Ranieri with Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Arjen Robben and so on. John Terry came through from the youth system, and they bought Petr Cech, very cheaply as it turned out, at 21.

"We actually watched Cech, I watched him myself twice, and I thought, 'nineteen years old, he's a bit young'. But he was in the national team by the time he was 20. Looking back now, he's maybe made about 10 mistakes in six years."

So he's one that got away?

'Yeah, but at the time I was looking for someone to replace Peter Schmeichel."