Manchester United used to be absolutely spoilt for talent within Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams which achieved so much.
Looking back to Manchester United’s 2007/08 side and there was an unbelievable quantity of players who would today be immediate starters.
This was one of the best United teams of all time, winning the Premier League and Champions League in the same season.
In particular, United boasted one of the best front three’s in history with Carlos Tevez alongside the legendary duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
The trio were dominant and combined for 79 goals and 28 assists during the 2007/08 campaign.
However, as good as they were, one forgotten Sir Alex Ferguson player was outperforming them in training.
Manchester United Training Session.
Photo by John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images
Danny Simpson says that Gerard Pique was Manchester United’s best rondo player
At the time that Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were at the top of their game, Danny Simpson was a United academy prospect who was just stepping into the first team.
Now, speaking on the Beyond the Back Four podcast, Simpson has revealed that while training with the ilk of Ronaldo and Rooney, it was Gerard Pique who stood out during rondo drills.
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“When you finally get into the first-team squad and there is this moment when they do rondos, they do those boxes. A young box and an old box and you’re in a box with Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez, Pique. Pique was one of the best players in the box by the way.
“Then there is a moment when you’re just like, ‘wow these are some top, top players and I’m getting to learn of these’.”
This is a bit of a shock considering Pique was yet to reach his ultimate potential, while United’s forward pair were among the world’s finest players.
Manchester United were always going to lose Gerard Pique
While often forgotten, prior to his Barcelona legendary career, Pique was a young and emerging defender for United.
However, he was behind arguably the best defensive pairing in football at the time, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic which resulted in his move to Camp Nou.
“When I was there Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo, Giggs, Scholes, Roy Keane. We won the Champions League in 2008. We won the league. It was a really, really good team,” said Pique as quoted by TNT Sports.
“The centre-backs were Rio Ferdinand, Vidic. I was really unlucky. They never got injured. Then I left and then they started to get injuries! This is football, but I’m not really worried. It’s true that I was happy in Manchester even though I didn’t play as much as I wanted to.
“But the day I finally signed for Barcelona and I came back it was ‘wow, the dream comes true’. After this we won a lot of titles and other dreams come true but the main one was playing for the club that I had supported all my life.”