Giuseppe Rossi was left astonished when he discovered that Sir Alex Ferguson could still remember the fee Manchester United sold him for almost 12 years ago.
The Italian striker, who came through the Red Devils' academy, departed for Villarreal in July 2007 but recently began training with his old club again to regain fitness after a period of injury problems.
“I had breakfast with him at Carrington the other day,” Rossi told Sky Sports.
“(He is) the best manager who ever lived. We were talking and talking and he still remembers the transfer fee when I got sold.
"Just think about it: it was 11 years ago and in that 11-year span there have been hundreds of transfer fees, and he still remembered my transfer fee when I went to Villarreal.
"It's great to see him in high spirits and great to see him just being about here on the football field."
The 31-year-old has been a free agent since leaving Genoa last summer, but is not giving up on returning to the top despite regularly seeing his progress derailed by injury issues throughout his career.
"I just love this game," he said. "I sacrificed so much in these years, I've had many highs, I've had a few lows with these injuries that have taken a lot away from me but I never stopped.
"I always want to keep trying to achieve, keep trying to achieve, keep trying to get better and I just love this game so much that nothing's ever going to take me away from it.
"It's a part of me and I want to keep fighting and keep doing what I have to do in order to be where I want to be."
