'Leaving Tottenham for Man Utd was not a tough call – this is what meant most to me'

Teddy Sheringham has explained exactly what led him to make the move from Tottenham to Manchester United in 1997 - and it wasn't down to the goal-scoring opportunities or trophy dreams

Teddy Sheringham has explained that making the move from Spurs to Manchester United wasn't a tough call.

The now 58-year-old forward served Tottenham for five years before making the move to Old Trafford in 1997 for £3.5million, leaving White Hart Lane to team up with Sir Alex Ferguson and a squad jam-packed with talent. The Class of '92 were in full swing at the time, with Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs all in their glory years, taking the Premier League by storm.

And while leaving a club served for so long could be a daunting task for many players, Sheringham says that joining the ranks of the Manchester United elite was far from a tough call for him. Speaking with Jamie Carragher and David Jones during a 2022 instalment of Monday Night Football, Sheringham was asked if leaving Spurs was a hard decision to make.

Stone-faced, the former footballer answered: "No, not at all. I mean, it's a long story about me and my Tottenham career but I didn't think the club were as ambitious as what I wanted them to be, and I just felt that it was the right time for me to leave. I didn't know that Manchester United were going to come in for me.

"I was just hoping that a bigger club and a better club where I can go and play with top players would come along for me. And lucky for me, United did." Sheringham was then asked what mattered more to him reflecting on his illustrious career, scoring goals or getting his hands on trophies.

The star added: "I wanted to play with the top players in the world. I wanted them to come and play with me at Tottenham, but that was obvious that wasn't going to happen. So I decided that this isn't going to work here. My ambition is I wanna go bigger and better, so I'm thinking I'm going to have to leave to do that."

Sheringham joined Manchester United as Eric Cantona was leaving the club, and the star was also probed on if he was nervous at filling such great shoes; the Frenchman had scored 81 goals in 184 appearances for the Red Devils between 1992 and 1997. Carragher asked: "Initially when you come in, you're brought in to replace Cantona - he was a god at Manchester United, he still is now.

"How was that fore you coming in? I think you were 31 at the time, great experience, big England player - but how did you find that?" To which, Sheringham responded: "Fine. When I went to Tottenham I followed [Gary] Lineker - he'd just left, I come in.

"When I joined England, Peter Beardsley had just come to the end of his career - you could look at it and go 'Filling them shoes, that's tough'. If Fergie wants me to go to Man United and play for Man United, I'm going. I don't care who I'm following. If he thinks I'm good enough to play for them, I'm going there and I'm going to show you what I can do."

Sheringham achieved three Premier League titles, an FA Cup, a Charity Shield, an Intercontinental Cup and a Champions League with United, scoring 46 goals in 153 appearances for the side. However, he returned to White Hart Lane for two years in 2001, before going on to play for the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham and Colchester United.

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