On This Day – 10th August
Lee Sharpe joining Leeds United on this day back in 1996 after spending eight years at Manchester United.
Sharpe was plucked from Fourth Division Torquay United by Alex Ferguson after his fantastic debut season as a first team player. He had helped Torquay to finish fifth place in the league and was still only 16 years old.
The left winger made his debut for Manchester United on 24th September 1988 at the age of 17 and played 22 league matches over the course of the season.
Ferguson signed Danny Wallace from Southampton in the 1989/90 season and preferred him to Sharpe for the left wing role. Sharpe made 18 league appearances and the highlight of his career was to come the following season.
In a 6-2 victory over Arsenal at Highbury in the League Cup, Sharpe fired a hat-trick and many thought that this would kick on his career at United. Sadly it wasn’t to be as both injuries and illness kept him out of the United team and he was replaced by the mercurial talent of Ryan Giggs.
With Ryan Giggs now established as the United left winger and Russian Andrei Kanchelskis occupying the right side, it looked as if Sharpe would be limited to first team starts. Kanchelskis was sold to Everton at the start of the 1995/96 season and Sharpe spent that season vying with youngster David Beckham for the right wing position.
When it became obvious that Beckham would be Ferguson’s first choice, Sharpe was sold on to Leeds United for £4.5 million. This was Leeds’ record signing at the time but his career would decline after joining the Yorkshire club.
Sharpe played the majority of his first season at Elland Road but missed the whole of the second season through injury. He would go on loan to Sampdoria in Italy before dropping down the leagues in England, playing for Bradford City, Portsmouth and Exeter City. He retired from the game at the age of 32 after playing for Grindavik of Iceland.
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