YOU had the opportunity to go to almost all of the top clubs in Italy and Spain, but you turned them down to join Manchester United. Why?.. "Funnily enough, Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars told me some great things about life in England and about the atmosphere at English grounds. And, equally importantly, they also told me that you can lead a normal life when you're not on the pitch. They say they can walk down the street in London without people jumping on them like they do in Spain and Italy. When Dennis was at Inter Milan he got to know all about that. So, as funny as it sounds, two Arsenal players made me go to United, ha, ha." Didn't Liverpool actually make a bigger bid for you?.. "Yes they did, but Mister Ferguson never had to worry about me joining one of United's rivals. The only thing about Liverpool coming back in for me was that it caused another hold-up in the negotiations. PSV Eindhoven thought they could get more money if they sold me to Liverpool but I made it very clear that I wasn't interested in joining them. There was no way I was going to change my mind, United was my first and only choice. People have done nothing else but talk about money. But for me there was something far more important at stake. I want to go to a club where I can win major trophies, where I'll play in the Champions' League every season and where I'll be working with the best players. I believe that United have more to offer than any other club. I'm going for the glory, not for the money." But the move must have made you a millionaire all the same... "It's really funny. My sister didn't know about the clause in my contract that said I would be entitled to 15% of any transfer fee if I moved. When she read in the papers that United were going to pay an awful lot of money for me and that I would get 15% of it, it still didn't sink in. But when she was in bed that night and she started to figure out exactly how much money I would make, and she got a real shock. Two minutes later she was screaming down the phone: 'Jaap. You're going to be a millionaire'. It's more the people around me who keep talking about the money. I don't think it will change me as a person all that much. I've never been a flashy lad, so I don't think I'll become one just because I'm joining a club where one of my team-mates goes out with a Spice Girl." Football365 doesn't mind talking about money, though! Tell us how much you earned out of your first-ever contract? "My first professional club was FC Zwolle in the Dutch First Division. Their coach had scouted me at a non-League club called DOS Kampen. They paid me £100 a week before tax! And if I played more than 10 games in a season, my wages would go up by £20." What car did you drive then? "I had something called an Alpino, but that was a Dutch pushbike! I didn't get a car until I joined my second club, Cambuur Leeuwarden, it was a second-hand Honda Civic which smelled like hell." And what will you use to get to Old Trafford? "Well, I've always loved beautiful cars, but I've never been able to afford a Porsche, a Maserati or an Aston Martin. I was only leasing a car, even when I was at PSV. I love Aston Martins most of all, but they cost more than £100,000, don't they? I don't know whether I'll want to drive a car that costs that much. I am just an ordinary guy. I'd really hate it if people started to think I was some kind of Jack The Lad, now I've joined United. I've noticed my old friends from the town where I used to live haven't dared ring me lately. They ring my sister and ask her things about me. I tell her to give those lads my phone number, because they are more important to me than most of the people I've met in football." What's it like to look in the mirror and see the most expensive defender in the world staring back? "Very strange. Especially if you bear in mind that PSV only paid £1m for me two years ago. But I've progressed a lot, I'm a better player now and I feel that I'm still improving. Manchester United will get an even better player than the one PSV Eindhoven had. But the prices of players go up every season. Perhaps people in Manchester will say in five years' time: 'Remember when we bought Jaap Stam? We only paid £10m for him'. Honestly, nobody in football can keep up with the way transfer fees skyrocket." With all respect for your qualities as a defender, do you think you are worth £10m? "Look at it this way. Clubs have been paying these prices - and a lot more besides - for top-class strikers. If I make sure that those expensive strikers in the Premier League or in the Champions' League don't score against United, you could say I'm worth the same as them. Defenders are more important than ever. They have to pass the ball better than in the past, because they have to be more involved in the build-up of attacking play. I think I symbolise the modern defender, I just hope United don't expect me to score a stack of goals as well as stop them!" On the international front, you went to Euro 96 with Holland but spent all your time on the bench. How do you think your lot will do at this year's World Cup? "Well, I'm a regular in the team now, which I'm really enjoying, and I honestly think we'll have one of the best sides in the tournament. I don't see us as any weaker than Brazil, France or Germany, the teams that I think have the best chance of winning the trophy. The main thing is that we stick together this time. The atmosphere in the camp is always important for Holland, so I'll try and make sure we become a great team on and off the pitch. At Euro 96, I didn't have the power to voice my opinions on things or to get involved in certain arguments - even though the whole thing with Edgar Davids was blown out of proportion, it could have been avoided. Our squad is almost the same as in Euro 96 so everyone knows that we mustn't make the same mistakes twice." Is there anything else for you to achieve now that you've got the dream move you always wanted? "I'd love to go to Old Trafford after the summer as a World Champion. I really think Holland have the quality to reach the Final - and I'd love to mark Ronaldo in that match. I don't fear any striker in the world, not even him. I don't want to sound cocky or arrogant, but I think I can handle them all."

STAM THE MAN 10 Things You Didn't Know About United's New Signing   When Jaap Stam was 10 years old, all his friends in the school team supported Ajax. He was the only one who followed a foreign side - Manchester United. He never dreamed he would become a professional footballer. Scouts from Dutch First Division club FC Zwolle picked up on three players from the junior side he was a member of, but barely looked at him. "I was really jealous," he admits. "I decided I probably wasn't good enough and stopped thinking about being a professional." When Stam was 13, he broke his leg when he took a bend too fast on his bike and crashed into a lorry. The injury stopped him doing anything physical for months - not for lack of effort, though. His dad had to strap him into his wheelchair to stop him trying to play in goal with his leg in plaster. The man who finally recognised his talents was Theo De Jong, a member of Holland's 1974 World Cup team. De Jong was so keen on Stam that he signed him for every club he coached. FC Zwolle, then Cambuur Leeuwarden and finally Willem II before the player left for PSV. "Every day I saw Jaap train or play, the more I was convinced that he was the best I'd ever seen," said De Jong. "He was only 18 and so ferocious, so dedicated and so strong. I played alongside the best defenders Holland had in 1974 and Stam was better." Stam's best friend is school team-mate Henry van der Vegt. They have both made it as professionals, at the same time that Stam was moving to United, van der Vegt was signing for top Italian side Udinese. Stam's dad was a carpenter. He only joined FC Zwolle after finishing his studies to be an electrician. Stam is the first defender since Ronald Koeman in 1988 to win Holland's Player Of The Year award. He made his full international debut in April 1996 against deadly rivals Germany. Stam's wife Ellis is expecting their first baby in August.

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