The French winger, who eventually signed for Aston Villa, has told of how his agent Chantal Stanley was allegedly contacted by somebody close to the Old Trafford club after he was left out of Tottenham's team for a key return leg against Kaiserslautern in the Uefa Cup.
"Shortly after that defeat in Germany. I received a phone call from Tottenham chairman Alan Sugar.
"It took me by surprise - it's not every day the chairman called and my first reaction was to think something was wrong.
"The conversation was baffling. Sugar said he had something to tell me and wanted to do it man-to-man, not over the phone. He asked me over to his house to talk.
"He told me 'You are important to this club and don't forget you recently signed a three-year contract with Tottenham. I am very happy for you to stay and see it out.
The next Ginola was informed by his agent that "somebody very close to Manchester United had asked if I would be keen to play for them.
"Then the conversation with Sugar fell into place. I almost did play for United when Sir Alex Ferguson asked me to play in his testimonial.
"[George] Graham put a stop to it. At first he said he didn't see a problem, but changed his mind."
