FERGIE KLUIVERT BID WOULD BE U-TURN
The Barcelona attacker angered Ferguson when snubbing an opportunity to join The Red Devils back in 1998, and the Scot is certainly a man of principle.
"When Patrick Kluivert, the gifted young Dutch centre forward, was so unimpressed by our approaches in 1998 that he wouldn't even do us the courtesy of talking to us, I had no trouble believing that he was likely to be the bigger loser than we were," wrote Ferguson in his autobiography.
"As I write, there is a growing mountain of persuasive evidence that the Dutchman's indifference indirectly did us a huge favour."
Kluivert's situation at Camp Nou is simple. He is out of contract next season, when he will be one of the most attractive Bosmans around and able to demand an astronomical signing-on fee and personal terms.
Barca want him tied down to a new deal that runs until 2006 but the 25-year-old knows he holds all the Aces and some reports claim he will follow Luis Figo in joining arch-rivals Real Madrid.
Juventus, Chelsea, Internazionale and Liverpool are also credited with an interest in the former Milan marksman, and the word in Spain is that Ferguson wants to partner Kluivert with his international colleague Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Agent Sigi Lens, who told planetfootball.com last week that rumours linking Liverpool with a move for his client were untrue, is to meet Barca director Anton Parera on Monday.
Barca are determined their hit-man will sign a new contract as a result of the discussions or they will be faced with a difficult dilemma over what to do with their highly-prized star.
The Catalan club would obviously prefer Kluivert to move to England rather than Real, and they could expect to pick up a sizeable fee if they were to sell him before the start of the new campaign.
