Jaap Stam has revealed Kevin Keegan tried to sign him for Manchester City when he was at Lazio.
Manchester United made Stam the world's most expensive defender when they signed him from PSV Eindhoven in 1998, but he left for Serie A just three years later.
He had a chance to return to the Premier League, though, when Lazio wanted to sell the defender due to the club's financial difficulties.
"Keegan once phoned me," Stam told Sky Sports News' Transfer Talk podcast. "I think it was in the winter time, City wanted to buy me.
"[The call lasted] about 20 minutes. He explained his thoughts and what he wanted to do, that he knew me from United and what I've done.
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"They were very interested if the opportunity was there to bring me back to Manchester.
"I couldn't really go there. I was tempted, but no, I couldn't. He phoned me, and I like him as a person, I knew him, but I couldn't make the step to City."
Stam moved on to AC Milan before eventually finishing his playing career back in Holland at Ajax.
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He admits there was no English club that could have persuaded him to come back to the Premier League once his time at Manchester United was up.
"No, I couldn't," he said. "At that time, I was playing the biggest club in the UK, in the world.
"It was very hard for myself to go somewhere else over there."
Jaap Stam was speaking exclusively to the Sky Sports News Transfer Talk podcast. Hear him lift the lid on his controversial exit from Manchester United, and much more in the full episode, which will be available from 6am on Sunday.
You can watch it On Demand on Sky Sports, on YouTube, or listen to it on your preferred podcast provider.