PHIL JONES has revealed he ended Joshua King’s Manchester United career just as it was about to take off.
The defender spent 12 years at Old Trafford before retiring in 2024.
Phil Jones impressed Sir Alex Ferguson in a youth match for Blackburn
Jones was snapped up for £17million
He admitted to kicking Joshua King, left, around
The Norwegian carved out a successful Prem career at Bournemouth
He was snapped up for £17million at just 19 years of age, showing promise early in his career.
cast his eye over the former wonderkid before signing him, in a match that dented ‘s view of King.
Jones explained that he and his team-mate Grant Hanley kicked King off the park in an FA Youth Cup clash, with Ferguson reportedly vowing to never play King again, having recently given him his debt.
Jones spoke to Ladbrokes at the launch of Ladisfaction’. He said: “I was playing in the FA Youth Cup, against United at Ewood Park, and obviously Big Sam (Allardyce) was quite close to Sir Alex.
“He told him he needed to come down and watch this lad, meaning me, and we absolutely kicked seven bells out of United that night! We absolutely battered them, we won 3-0, and even at that level, that’s a massive thing to beat United.
“And, so I’m told, me and Grant Hanley were playing against Josh King for United – who has obviously gone on to have a great career in the Premier League – and he’d just made his debut for their first-team and had done really well up to that point in his career.
“But he’s come up against me and Grant that night and, so Warren Joyce – who was their reserve manager – told me, after we kicked him just about everywhere in that game, Sir Alex went into their dressing room afterwards and said something along the lines of ‘he’ll never play for me again!’.
“Joyce jokes that I ruined King’s United career! I’ve got to say, he did give me a fair few kicks back over the years though!”
Jones went on to make 229 appearances for the Red Devils compared to King’s two.
Funnily enough the Norwegian kickstarted his Prem career with a move to Blackburn, but his best form came at where he scored 53 goals in 183 games.
