Patrick Vieira has revealed he held secret talks with Sir Alex Ferguson over a move to Manchester United, who planned to pair the Frenchman with his rival Roy Keane in the heart of their midfield.

Vieira played for Arsenal between 1996 and 2005, a period defined by the intense rivalry between the two clubs.

The Frenchman frequently clashed with United captain Keane, most notably when the pair had a heated exchange in the tunnel before a match at Highbury in February 2005.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Vieira has admitted he could have been playing for the Red Devils after having a meeting with Ferguson.

'I had the opportunity to move to Real Madrid a couple of times and I even had an opportunity to move to Manchester United,' Vieira said.

'I had a meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson. Full respect, I couldn't say no to meeting him because he was an important figure in the Premier League.

'We met and we talked and he explained to me his vision that he had for Manchester United and the team that he wanted to build.

'He wanted to play me with Roy Keane, (Ryan) Giggs on the left-hand side, David Beckham on the right-hand side and (Paul) Scholes to play behind (Ruud) Van Nistelrooy, so it wasn't a bad team.

'But I couldn't leave Arsenal, I was too happy there and we were on the way of building something quite really special for the club and that's the way it was.

'When you do well, of course there's teams who are interested and then you have to make a decision.

'But the decision for me was to stay at Arsenal because I felt the love from the club, from the players and from the fans. Everything was there for me to grow up as a player and to achieve what I wanted to.'

While Vieira did not disclose when the meeting with Ferguson took place, Man United were linked with a move for the then-Arsenal captain in the summer of 2003.

It was reported at the time that Ferguson had ordered the Red Devils' hierarchy to explore his potential signing, with Vieira only having one year remaining on his contract.

Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein told the BBC at the time that 'Patrick Vieira is not for sale.

'We have not had any inquiry from Manchester United for Patrick and even in the event of one he is not for sale.'

Vieira would ultimately captain Arsenal to the Premier League title the following season as part of the 'Invincibles' team, with the Gunners crowned champions without losing a game.

It was the third league title Vieira won with the Gunners, before he later left in 2005 for Juventus.

Vieira later spent time at Inter Milan, before finishing his playing career at Manchester City.

The Arsenal legend had previously admitted Ferguson's interest had been a 'compliment' when appearing on the documentary 'Keane and Vieira: Best of Enemies' back in 2013.

Vieira and Keane, who missed when attempting to punch each other in a match in February 1999, had their most famous clash in their last meeting in 2005.

Vieira had admitted in the documentary that he had caused the tunnel bust up at Highbury after warning Gary Neville he would come after him if he touched Robert Pires.

‘I started it. I was cool, I was really calm, I was smiling at him – and then he [Keane] lost it,' Vieira said.

'When we played at Old Trafford his [Gary Neville’s] tackling was flying in on Robert Pires and he was doing it on purpose, and I said “listen, we are not at Old Trafford here, this is Highbury”.

‘So I said to him “if you touch Robert, I will come after you”.’

Keane responded saying: ‘What really annoyed me that night was that you were picking on Gary, you were almost picking on the weakest link, so that’s what got my back up.

'There were two or three of you ganging up on Gary, simple as that.’

Vieira and Keane have since worked together as pundits both on ITV's coverage of major tournaments, as well as on Sky Sports.