Henrik Larsson Credits Stuart Baxter For Manchester United Move
Former Barcelona, Celtic and Sweden striker Henrik Larsson has revealed that former Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter played a key role in his move to Manchester United.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast with Gary Neville, Ian Wright, Jill Scott and Roy Keane, Larsson explained that his relationship with Baxter helped open the door to a short-term spell at Old Trafford.
The 54-year-old said he had known Baxter from their time together in Sweden at Helsingborgs IF, where Larsson scored 10 goals in 15 matches while Baxter was in charge.
After seven successful years at Barcelona, Larsson left the Spanish giants at the end of the 2005/06 season, having helped them win the UEFA Champions League final against Arsenal in Paris. He joined Manchester United at the start of the 2006/07 season.
Larsson revealed that he had already decided to return home to Sweden and had informed Barcelona that he would not be renewing his contract. However, the opportunity to join the reigning English champions proved too difficult to refuse.
“We had an English coach at the time, Stuart Baxter. He later became the national team coach for South Africa,” Larsson said.
“He was friends with the chief scout at Manchester United at the time. I don’t know exactly who it was, but he said Manchester United wanted to do a loan deal during the pre-season.
“I said, ‘Yeah, let me think about it. I have to go home and speak to my missus.’
“But I had pretty much already made up my mind. I went home and told my wife that Manchester United had reached out to see if I could join them.”
Larsson explained that his decision to return to Sweden was driven largely by family reasons.
“I had moved home because I wanted to play more football, but mainly for my son Jordan,” he added.
“He was born in Holland [when Larsson was playing for Feyenoord]. I hadn’t really lived in Sweden and wanted a calmer life.
“I had missed pre-season, and at my age — I was 35 at the time — I needed to keep playing and go straight into the next season. That’s how it came about.”
During his brief stint at Old Trafford, Larsson scored three goals in 11 appearances.
“It was just a fantastic experience for me coming into the dressing room with you guys,” he said with a laugh.
“You weren’t there, [Roy Keane], so I missed out.
“I used to watch you guys on Sky when I was in Scotland [at Celtic]. I knew a lot of the players and had played against some of them at the international level.
“The feeling around the club at the time was very welcoming, almost like coming home. It was a great atmosphere — even though you never invited me for lunch,” he joked, pointing at Neville, who was captain at the time.
At club level, Larsson scored 335 goals and registered 105 assists in 601 matches.
Internationally, he earned 106 caps for Sweden, scoring 37 goals, and was part of the team that won the bronze medal at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, defeating Bulgaria 4–0 in the third-place playoff – the game Larsson was one of the scorers.
