Ryan Giggs reveals Elliot Anderson told him to ‘leave me alone’ on a golf course as he tried to convince the England star to snub Manchester City, with Manchester United star Pep Guardiola top-rated

Ryan Giggs has revealed that Elliot Anderson told him to “leave me alone” after the Manchester United legend tried to persuade him to join the club this summer.

Last year, Daily Mail Sport reported that Anderson was Manchester United’s top midfield target in the summer transfer window but was trailing rivals Manchester City in the race.

Manchester City eventually acquired Anderson for £116 million in the summer, while Manchester United signed Youri Tielemans, Carlos Baleba and Andrei Santos as part of a midfield overhaul.

Ahead of Anderson’s appearance in the first Manchester derby at the weekend, Giggs told Rio Ferdinand Presents: The Debrief that he tried to convince the England star to snub Manchester City’s success.

Giggs explained that he bumped into Anderson on a golf course while on holiday ahead of the World Cup.

“It was literally a few days before he went to the World Championships. I peppered him,” Giggs told Ferdinand.

Ryan Giggs has said he tried to convince Elliot Anderson to ditch Manchester City for Manchester United.

Giggs said Anderson, who later joined Manchester City for £116m, told him to “leave me alone” when he tried to persuade him to sign for the Red Devils.

“At first he didn’t know how to take it, but then he relaxed a little.

“But on the first four or five holes we literally crossed paths. And at the end he said: “Let me, leave me alone. Let me just play golf, please? You have problems.”

Ferdinand added: “That’s what I do when I see some players.” I don’t care.

“You have to try everything to get these deals done. It’s crazy though. It is clear that the price tag was crazy. And this is just astronomical money. AND Manchester United I don’t have the budget to pay for it.”

Giggs, who made a club-record 963 appearances before influencing the Manchester United coaching staff, also shared his thoughts on Marcus Rashford following his return to the club.

He stated that former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola once told a dinner attended by Sir Alex Ferguson that he believed Rashford was “Manchester United’s best player” and would “take him in tomorrow”.

“There are about eight of us, so he [Ferguson] sat me down next to Pep, this was, I would say, about eight or nine years ago.

“I went up to Pep and asked: “Do you know who you like at United?” “He went, well, who do you think?”

Giggs told the dinner that Pep Guardiola once said Marcus Rashford was the only player he would take from Manchester United.

– And I went, De Gea? He went, no. Luke Shaw? I’m like, no. He named Manchester United’s best player, Marcus Rashford. I’d take it tomorrow.

“And it just made me [think]What does he see, Pep? And that was obviously as a centre-forward.”

Giggs also added that during his time as Manchester United assistant manager in 2015, he was approached by a French fan of the club and advised him to sign young Kylian Mbappe from Monaco.

He stated that a fan recommended Mbappe after watching a lot of youth football in France, and later emailed Giggs the details to persuade him to scout the young forward.

Mbappé took his first steps into first-team football that season with Monaco, making 14 appearances for the Ligue 1 side in the 2015–16 season.

“Me and Albert [Stuivenberg]who is the Arsenal manager, he was another assistant at United at the time, we used to just go watch the games in the afternoons or go watch the players at the training ground,” Giggs said.

“I told him about this thing,” he says, “let’s get him up.” And we had a few youth games with Monaco and we saw it and thought, “Wow, what is this?”

“You know, you can see players and they can be special, but he obviously looked exceptional.

“We told the scouting team that they went to look at him. Someone in France came to watch him and he actually played with PSG. Monaco played PSG.

Giggs claimed he was approached by a Manchester United fan in 2015 and told them to look for then Monaco teenager Kylian Mbappe.

“They went to Paris to look at it. Anyway, I think a few weeks later I asked this guy, how did it go? He left, yeah, they weren’t too sure about him, so we just left it and that was it.”

Mbappe played 81 minutes against PSG in a 2-0 win in March of the 2015/16 season, when the striker was just 17 years old.

He later joined PSG for a fee of £165 million in August 2017 and went on to score 256 goals in 308 games for the French giants and win six league titles.

Mbappe, who joined Real Madrid on a free transfer in 2024, played a key role in France’s World Cup victory in 2018 and now holds the tournament’s all-time record holder.