Thomas Sorensen has revealed how he had a successful trial at Manchester United before joining Sunderland.

The Dane ended up joining the Black Cats in 1998.

He would spend the 17 years in the top-flight with Sunderland, Aston Villa and Stoke City.

"In 1997, in December, Peter Schmeichel had organised for me to go for a week's training with Manchester United," Sorensen told the What the Falk! podcast.

"I had a great experience and then they invited me back in February."

He added: "During that summer when I joined Sunderland I actually held talks with Ajax Amsterdam and there were a few Danish players at Udinese in Italy.

"They had a good eye for Danish players so I actually had a meeting with them in Copenhagen.

"I was playing for Svendborg in what would be the Championship, the Danish second division, and Tony Coton came across twice.

"I didn't think much of it because, especially the first game, we were playing in more or less a field with some barriers around it. A typical non-league stadium with maybe about 100 people watching.

"I thought: 'We've got people from England watching this. Surely they can't be too impressed?'

"The season came to an end and my agent mentioned Sunderland and, to be fair, I hadn't really kept an eye on what was going on in Sunderland.

"I knew they had been in the Premier League but in Denmark the main focus is on Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United and all the big teams.

"They just said: 'Go and have a look at it and maybe you will like it, maybe you won't'.

"I met Peter Reid and after half a day I knew that was where I wanted to be. I loved the passion and they actually showed me the semi-final against Sheffield United to show me the atmosphere.

"That half a day sold it to me. I wanted to be given a chance and it wasn't the Premier League so it wasn't an impossible step.

"Peter Reid was willing to give me a shot and that was all I wanted. I wanted a chance to cement myself and it was really a no-brainer."