Jordi Cruyff tells of his bet with Eric Cantona who helped him adapt to life at Man Utd

Jordi Cruyff has told how Eric Cantona was "very good to him" when he joined Manchester United, and revealed how they had a bet over who would leave the club first.

The former midfielder joined United in 1996 from Barcelona but only had limited success and was loaned out to Celta Vigo in his final season before leaving in 2000.

He has since admitted he found it difficult to adapt to the cut and thrust of the Premier League compared to LaLiga, but that United legend Cantona was a big help to him when he arrived.

"I must say in terms of integration, the person who most helped us was Eric Cantona, which is curious because if you don't know him, you think there is a wall and he is difficult to get," said Cruyff.

"But he was actually the one who was picking us up from the hotel, bringing us to training bringing us back to the hotel, in the first weeks of being in a new country.

"We used to have a lot of dinners and he used to be very helpful for us, you know because I am Dutch but in the end I actually have more of a Mediterranean mentality than Dutch mentality."

The son of Dutch icon Johan Cruyff was born in Amsterdam but grew up in Cataluna and his name Jordi is that of the patron saint of the Spanish region.

"I lived only for six years in Holland in all my life. So I think he (Cantona) understood that, he felt that and he was very good to me like from picking me up everywhere taking me everywhere talking to me," said Jordi.

"And I think I was the first person who actually knew about his retirement because we made a bet. He said, 'I'm leaving United before you' and I laughed. I said, 'That's impossible. I'm not playing a minute, so I'm sure I'm leaving before.'

"We actually made a bet, and he won. But he already had made his mind up that he was going to go."

Speaking on the Overlap podcast, Roy keane joked: "Did he leave just to win the best?"

And Jordi replied: "I doubt it. I doubt it. We didn't bet that much. It wasn't worth it."