penetration from midfield. The boy has always been blessed with marvellous stamina and he has the confidence to go past players." McManaman's part in Madrid's eighth European Cup win also saw him become the first English player ever to win Europe's premier club competition with a foreign club. 2000–01: Fortitude in Madrid Despite the Champions League final performance and having established himself as a valuable player in his first year in Madrid (including being listed alongside Fernando Redondo in Real Madrid's technical director Pirri's end of season official report as one of the two "untouchables" around whom the team should be built for the coming campaign), the arrival of a new club president in Florentino Pérez, closely followed by former Barcelona superstar midfielder Luís Figo in a club-record transfer, saw the club forced to sell several key players to reduce debt. McManaman, alongside Redondo, Nicolas Anelka and Christian Karembeu, was suddenly told that he was surplus to requirements before the start of the 2000–01 season and would be sold. When McManaman refused to leave unlike the others, manager Vicente del Bosque told McManaman that he had "little chance of playing this year", and in case he did not understand his position, the club also declined to give him a squad number for the forthcoming season. With the club already in debt, and having just spent another £37 million on Figo, the board were keen to cash in on McManaman and remove his $4.5 million salary from the wage bill. McManaman, however, with an iron-clad contract until 2004, declined to leave and instead stated his determination to win back his place in the team. Real Madrid subsequently accepted first an £11 million bid from Middlesbrough and then a £12 million bid for McManaman from Chelsea that included the exchange of Tore André Flo, in the summer of 2000, both of which the player rejected. A Sky Sports report in August 2000 also stated that eight other clubs were vying for his signature at the time, including Manchester United, Parma and Fiorentina. Sir Alex Ferguson declared his admiration for McManaman by arranging a contingent to convince him to sign. McManaman, however, said he wanted to succeed in Spain. His stance was rewarded when Real relented after a Spanish poll in El Mundo showed 90% of the fans wanted the club to keep McManaman, while Míchel Salgado complained to the management about the