Scott Minto’s gamble on rejecting Arsenal paid off after he helped end Chelsea’s 26-year trophy drought. The former defender started in Chelsea‘s 1997 FA Cup final victory over Middlesbrough, but things could have panned out differently. Minto decided against joining Arsenal in 1994 to link up with Chelsea from CharltonGetty Following six years at Charlton, Minto decided to depart in 1994, with London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea both keen to snap him up. And it was at Highbury where Minto thought he would be making his move with manager George Graham offering him a contract. But the left-back refused to rush into a decision – issuing Chelsea a week to come up with their own offer before he accepted the Gunners’ proposal. In the end, Minto came out of his meeting with legendary boss Graham to sign for the Blues that same night. Speaking to talkSPORT.com about how close he came to joining Arsenal, he said: “I actually thought in the second half of my last season at Charlton that I would be signing for Arsenal. “Theo Foley [ex-Arsenal assistant] had told me that they had been watching me and they wanted to make a bid. “Back then, the transfer window – the final one – was the third Thursday in March, they said they’re not going to buy me now, but they will at the end of the season. “They wanted to wait, I was letting my contract run out, and they said it would be cheaper that way. So I ended up meeting George at Highbury. Minto started in the Blues’ 1997 FA Cup final win over MiddlesbroughGetty Minto departed Chelsea after the Wembley outing to join Benfica on a free transfer Minto helped end the club’s 26-year trophy droughtGetty “It was just me, a 22-year-old kid, a young, single guy who liked to have a few nights out, and didn’t look at guys as charming. “But I came away from that meeting thinking that’s the word, [Graham] was a very charming guy, but the reason I didn’t sign for Arsenal, was because he said to me – and it wasn’t about the money. “He said to me I can have a three or four-year contract, but it won’t go up. And I said, ‘Well what about even with inflation?’ “He said, ‘No. If you’re rubbish, we’re not going to take money off you, so if you’re good, we’re not going to give you extra money.’ “So I was like, ‘OK. It’s still Arsenal,’ but he said I may have to wait 18 months for Nigel Winterburn – I would have had to wait ten years for Nigel, he went on for ages, he’s a brilliant guy! “And I’d seen Colin Pates go from Chelsea to Charlton, he was our captain at Charlton, to Arsenal, but be stuck in the reserves and not really be seen. “And I’d been in the first team since I was 17, and reserves for me was, it doesn’t matter where you are, reserves is reserves, it’s not first team football. “So he [Graham] said, ‘Nigel had to wait 18 months for Kenny [Sansom],’ and I might have to wait 18 months for Nigel. And I just thought well it’s about the here and now. “So I kind of told a porky, I said to him, ‘I haven’t got an agent’, which was true, I said, ‘I’m here on my own, my dad’s away on business for a week’, which he wasn’t, ‘Do you mind if I wait until he comes back and have a chat to him?’ Minto joined Hawksbee and Jacobs with the FA Cup trophy to look ahead to his former club’s mammoth game against Man City “Now in that time, or before then, Keith Peacock, who was Gavin Peacock’s [then-Chelsea player] dad, Keith was working at Charlton [as U21 boss], said, ‘I want you to be at Chelsea, I think Chelsea are interested. Give me a few days.’ “I rang him up on the payphones after I came out of that meeting at Highbury, and said, ‘Keith, they’ve offered me a contract, you’ve got a week, and if Chelsea don’t come in, I’m signing for Arsenal.’ “Literally that night, I met with Chelsea, they offered me a better contract, but it wasn’t about the money, it was more about the football, and I signed then. “I actually rang up [Arsenal] the next day to try and speak to George, and I was told, ‘He won’t want to speak to you,’ I said, ‘Well can you at least tell him I tried.'” Minto stayed at Stamford Bridge for three years, with his last outing proving to be the 2-0 win over Boro in the FA Cup final at Wembley. He subsequently joined Benfica on a free transfer, where he became the first Englishman to play for the Portuguese outfit. But he’ll be hoping his former club can get one step closer to another triumph when they take on Manchester City in the semi-final. Chelsea vs Man City is live on talkSPORT on Saturday 20 April from 17:15

Gary Neville was left outraged after Bastian Schweinsteiger revealed how his Manchester United career came to a bitter end. The former Germany international signed for Manchester United in 2015 after a glittering career at Bayern Munich. The German World Cup winner spent two years at Old Trafford before moving to MLS The World Cup winner began life at Old Trafford under Louis van Gaal and helped the Red Devils lift the FA Cup in 2016. However, Van Gaal’s subsequent exit as head coach saw Jose Mourinho handed the Old Trafford hotseat in a move that would spell the end of this stint in Manchester. Schweinsteiger exited the club in 2017 to join MLS side Chicago Fire before hanging up his boots two years later. The German was a recent guest on Neville’s Stick to Football podcast and lifted the lid on how his final season under Mourinho unfolded, much to Neville’s despair. “It was 2016 and I was with the German national team, we went far in the competition (European Championships) reaching the semi-finals, so I stepped in a little later (at Manchester United) and the team were in the US for a pre-season tour,” Schweinsteiger told former United captain, Neville. “When I arrived on the first day, I trained with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and thought it was great, a player who has the vision and is amazing to play with. “The next day, on my birthday, when I walked into Carrington, John Murtough (Man United football director) was there and said that I wasn’t allowed to walk into the dressing room, the coach had said so. No warning, nothing.  “I don’t know (why he told me). Someone could have told me there (on my first day of training) or explained it to me in a normal way, but okay, I went to the youth dressing room and trained with the under 16s.” Neville cut a flabbergasted figure at the German’s revelation, failing to understand why Murtough had informed him of the banishment. Schweinsteiger then added that Murtough was forced to bring him his boots and training wear due to being banished from the first-team dressing room. Schweinsteiger was one of United’s senior figures in the dressing room alongside Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic Mourinho quickly banished the German to the Under-16s team and banned him from the first-team dressing roomAFP “I asked him who I was training with, and he said there was the Under-16 team, so I went and trained with the Under-16s,” Schweinsteiger said. “I asked him whether I could talk to the manager in the afternoon, so when I came back from training with the Under-16s, where I trained so bad because I didn’t know what was going on or it was a joke, I then had a meeting with (Mourinho) in the afternoon.  “He explained to me that he didn’t see me happy here at United because when I had my injury, I did my rehab with German doctors, spending time in Germany. “I was training alone for at least three months with a fitness coach,” he added. “I trained before and after the first team. the overlapNeville was left astonished by Schweinsteiger’s incredible revelation[/caption] “Mourinho never let me train with the first team. I guess they wanted to get rid of me. In that moment, I was still super happy at United, I loved to wear the jersey, I loved it. “I was thinking that maybe it was just a period, I will train now and keep myself fit and maybe one day they’ll change their mind. My dream was to always step back out into Old Trafford.” Neville was outraged at what he was hearing and labelled the actions of his former employers as ‘illegal’. “I was the PFA Union Representative, and you’re not allowed to do that,” said Neville. “You can’t dismiss someone like that, it’s constructive dismissal in some ways.” “It’s probably a few years too late, you should have come and seen me at the time. I’m stunned and embarrassed at what I’m hearing because I always think, players leave clubs and people fall out, but there is a way to do things and a way to behave and act.” Schweinsteiger did reveal that Mourinho eventually apologised for demoting him albeit too late to repair the fractured relationship.

David Moyes leaving West Ham at the end of the season is becoming increasingly likely, talkSPORT understands. Hammers boss Moyes claimed in December that he had been offered an extension to his contract, which expires in the summer, but that deal remains unsigned. Moyes has been in charge of West Ham since 2017Getty The West Ham board and Moyes himself are both aware of the fractured relationship between the Scot and a vocal majority of the club’s supporters, and sporting director Tim Steidten has been actively working on a list of potential successors. talkSPORT reported earlier this season that Steidten has a close relationship with soon-to-be ex-Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel, who would be in favour of a Premier League return. The Hammers are currently eighth in the English top-flight and reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League, where they will look to overturn a two-goal deficit against Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night. Moyes, who has been in charge of West Ham for seven years, guided the Hammers to their first major trophy since 1980 with Europa Conference League glory last season. However, a large section of fans have expressed frustration with the club’s style of play under Moyes in recent months. Pressure has increased on the 60-year-old following a run of one Premier League win in the last six matches. Ex-Chelsea manager Tuchel, meanwhile, is set to become available this summer after Bayern Munich confirmed he will leave. For the first time in 11 years, Bayern failed to win the Bundesliga as Bayer Leverkusen stormed to the title with weeks to spare. Tuchel can win a second Champions League title this seasonGetty However, the German giants remain on course for Champions League glory after knocking Arsenal out in the quarter-finals on Wednesday night. Tuchel famously won the competition with Chelsea in 2021 before a fall out with co-owner Todd Boehly led to his sacking in September 2022. Moyes has repeatedly defended his West Ham record this season and gave a defiant response to questions surrounding his future on Wednesday. He said: “Maybe West Ham are a different sort of club. “This place here has never been smooth at any time I don’t think. “I think it’s been a club who has bobbed up and down. I think it’s probably had its highest standing for a long time in the last few years (under me). “So the people who watch West Ham and the people who come here will probably know that it’s (the drama and ups and downs) part of it. “I don’t think anybody is coming here to have a smooth time. I think it’s always got a tinge of something else about it. It’s a club which has been relegated and it has been up and down. “But it’s never been in Europe three times in a row. I know that. And we have plans to try and make it four.”