Ryan Giggs has lifted the lid on a bold, if ultimately fruitless, attempt to talk Elliot Anderson into signing for Manchester United — on a golf course, days before the midfielder flew to the United States for the World Cup.

The Manchester United legend made the admission on Rio Ferdinand Presents: The Debrief, recalling how he pressed Anderson repeatedly during a round of golf, only for the player to lose patience after four or five holes.

Anderson's blunt response

"I peppered him. He didn't know how to take it at first, and then he relaxed a little bit," Giggs said of the encounter, adding that Anderson eventually reached his limit. "At the end of it, he went, 'Will you just — leave me alone. Will you just let me play my golf, please?' You're in trouble."

The ex-Nottingham Forest midfielder had been, in Giggs's words, "probably the most-talked about Premier League player" at the time. Anderson ultimately chose to join Manchester City in a deal worth £116 million — a fee initially reported to have broken the British transfer record.

Ferdinand's familiar routine

Host Rio Ferdinand admitted he pulls the same trick himself, confessing: "The club's the best. That's what I do when I see [desirable] players, I don't care." The former Manchester United centre-back was candid about why a move to United was never realistic, however, stating plainly: "Manchester United haven't got the budget to pay for that."

Both men acknowledged the staggering scale of the fee. "It's just like astronomical money," Ferdinand said, with Giggs in full agreement — even as the 13-time Premier League winner accepted that his impromptu pitch had come to nothing.

The full conversation is available on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel.