Eric Cantona On Sheffield Wednesday

Manchester United legend Eric Cantona is one of, if not the, best foreign imports ever in the England league, but he could have been a legend with the Owls at Hillsborough.

It's well known, among Wednesday fans anyway, that Cantona's first 'club' in England was Wednesday, when the Frenchman arrived over on to English shores to have a trial with the Owls in 1991.

Numerous different stories have been banded around as to just why Wednesday, then managed by Trevor Francis, failed to clinch the Frenchman's signature before he went on to join Yorkshire rivals Leeds United and then, of course, Manchester United.

But Cantona has revealed in the November edition of 'Four Four Two' magazine that the reason behind him not signing the paperwork at S6 was due to the Owls' wanting more time to decide.

'He didn't invite me for a trial. I was there for a week and I thought I was there to sign,' said Cantona.

'My lawyer was there and he spoke to try and find a way with my contract. I trained and played in a friendly game. We won 4-3. I scored 3 goals. After one week, he asked me to spend one more week on trial.

'There weren't a lot of foreigners in England then, maybe some from the north of Europe but not many from the south. Maybe they were suspicious, but I was a France international and Sheffield Wednesday wanted more time to decide about me. That was not a very good way to go about things'

The rest is history, Trevor Francis will always be the manager who failed to bring Cantona to Wednesday, and who knows, his input during that season could well have given Wednesday the extra edge to go on and win the old Division 1 title which was won, of course, by Leeds.

Still, he's no Leon Clarke.

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