Man Utd tried to sign me after I destroyed Arsenal before devastating injury blows

Trevor Sinclair has revealed he once turned down Manchester United to become a Loftus Road legend.

The retired winger was still in his early days at Queens Park Rangers when the Red Devils came calling for his signature. Sinclair progressed quickly up the divisions after joining QPR from Blackpool in 1993, and the initial intimidation of playing in the Premier League soon ebbed as he found his footing.

The 51-year-old's career perhaps didn't meet its potential due to injury setbacks afflicting the former Manchester City and West Ham star. However, he revealed during a recent appearance on the Ben Heath Podcast just how close he came to signing on at Old Trafford after breaking onto the top-flight scene.

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"Not really," replied Sinclair when asked if he felt the move was one that "got away" from him. "I think there's always gonna be speculation when you're playing well. I remember playing for QPR at the start and thinking, 'How am I gonna get in this team?' Because the level of the players in my team, and I thought, 'This is different class. I'm gonna have to work my socks off to try and get anywhere near this.'

"Eventually I did, and that was from Gerry [Francis] putting individual work into me one-on-one, making sure I knew what my role was, and then being able to trust me and give me the opportunity. But I remember playing against the Arsenal team with [Nigel] Winterburn, Tony Adams and Lee Dixon - and this was the '1-0 to the Arsenal' under George Graham [team].

"And I remember playing against them, and I absolutely destroyed both of them. Winterburn on one side, went to the other wing [and] did the same to Dixon, and I thought, 'Is this as hard as it's gonna get?'"

Tricky Trev went on to explain it wasn't long before he suffered the first significant knee injury that he felt curtailed his progress. However, he emphasised just how confident he quickly grew to become after acclimating against some of England's biggest names, adding: "It was almost like playing in slow-motion."

"So I got in the England squad at (I think) 22, pre-96 Euros. Picked up a little ankle injury, which was nothing, but it kept me out of that squad. Then soon after I picked up a knee injury, which was a year out.

"But because I got in the England squad as a maverick, someone that doesn't really have to do that much work going back, and then to come so close to making my England cap but not making it. And then five, six years later, getting in the England team as a different, adapted version of myself - I think that was one of my greatest achievements."

Sinclair made an overdue England bow in 2001 and only went on to win 12 caps in total, four of which came at the 2002 World Cup. But he was rarely short of interest at club level and confirmed there were giants in the running for his services.

"There was big clubs interested over the years," he concluded. "Yeah, Manchester United was one, [but] I never look at things and think, 'Aw, I regret not doing that.' At the time, you do things you think are right for you, and for me that was to stay at QPR and sign a new contract. It didn't work out, but that was my decision, and I made it for the right reasons."