"Of all the centre-forwards we employed, when you talk about their talents – two-footed, good in the air, spring, speed, power – Saha would be one of the best. He posed a perpetual threat."
Coming from Alex Ferguson, there is hardly greater honour in a football sense and Louis Saha did enjoy a stellar career, despite some injury problems.
Capped at international level for France and a member of the squad which reached the 2006 World Cup final, Saha also netted over 150 career goals for Metz, Newcastle, Fulham, Manchester United, Everton, Tottenham, Sunderland and Lazio, as well as winning two Premier League titles and the 2008 Champions League.
Saha was in Dublin last week for the Web Summit, where he spoke in his guise as co-founder of Axis Stars, which helps and consults professional athletes on financial and personal matters.
He was kind of enough to take time of out his busy schedule to shoot the breeze with Team 33 (apologies if you can hear that breeze at times) about his playing career, as well as the reason he has created his new venture.
You can listen to the full interview at the start of the podcast or download on iTunes:
He discussed his brief loan spell at Newcastle towards the very start of his career in 1999, highlighting how that introduction to English football would be of benefit to him when he joined Fulham one year later.
And he spoke fondly of that four-year spell at Craven Cottage, where he was part of Jean Tigana's 2000-01 promotion-winning side, reminiscing how a technical side managed to succeed against more physical sides.
Plus, he also shared some stories about Fulham's former owner Mohamed Al Fayed and his colourful offers of viagra (which were actually blue peppermints).
His later spell at Man United also cropped up of course as he spoke of the type of influence Alex Ferguson had in the dressing room, while he explained what it is like to partner Wayne Rooney up front and also play with Paul Scholes, saying of that duo: "I loved the personalities of those two boys because [they were] easygoing. From outside, they look like big, big stars but they are very simple guys, very down-to-earth, helpful - the mentality of Manchester United basically."
He also spoke of other greats he played with, namely two of European football's best ever in Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo and shared an insight into what took both to the pinnacle of the sport.
Saha spoke to us about the current United team ahead of the Champions League match against CSKA Moscow
Plus he also described David Moyes as "very, very tough" and tactically-focused in terms of his man-management style at Everton, and also had interesting thoughts on the ex-Toffees manager's ultimately failed transition to coaching Man United, saying: "When I see he moved to Manchester United, I knew that something maybe had to adapt because this is two different mentalities. When you have players like Giggsy, Rooney, Scholesy and at some point, the Nanis, they are very instinct players. He can't force them to play a certain way and I knew he would have to adapt."
You can hear the full interview on the podcast player.
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