Pregnant girlfriend may cause Giggs to quit Man United
His affair with ex-best friend's girl has harmed relationship with club mates
MANCHESTER - A growing rift in the Manchester United dressing room may force Ryan Giggs into the arms of Inter Milan this summer.
The decision to take up with Stacey Cook, the girlfriend of his former best friend Dave Gardner, has seen him ostracised by his team-mates, including England captain David Beckham. Cook is now pregnant with Giggs' child, reported The Sunday Mirror.
The problems surfaced when the Welsh winger dumped his long-term girlfriend Emma Gardner and took up with Cook, the girlfriend of Emma's brother.
It now seems that even his biggest admirer, United manager Alex Ferguson, is powerless to do anything about the divide between the Welsh international and his team-mates.
Giggs, who can see no end to the problems, has refused to rule out talks with Inter, which will table a bid of £20 million (S$56 million) at the end of the season.
A United fan through and through, Giggs' hunger for success was matched only by his desire to stay at Old Trafford for his entire career. When he signed a new five-year contract last year, it seemed he would see out his playing days at the club.
But then he decided to embark on a relationship with Cook.
Giggs had been a good friend of Gardner for years, as were Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes.
Gardner failed to make the grade at United as a youngster, but the players were pleased when he found success at Elite Sports Group, which was co-founded by Ferguson's son, Jason.
Giggs enjoyed a closer relationship to Gardner than most because he had dated his sister Emma for two years and made his friend chairman of his lucrative testimonial committee.
But, just under a year ago, Giggs began to take a risky interest in Gardner's girlfriend Cook.
He even failed to heed warnings that the relationship could backfire when a national newspaper got wind of the affair and threatened to expose it.
The rifts began to deepen with team-mates as the affair became public and, when Cook became pregnant with Giggs' child, it left the Welsh star isolated.
Beckham and several of his team-mates sided with Gardner, who was devastated by the affair. It was seen as the ultimate act of betrayal and Giggs was ostracised.
Inter Milan, a long-term admirer of the Welshman, appears to be alerted to his availability. In December, it maintained he was offered as bait in an attempt by United to land two of the Italian club's major stars.
Inter technical director Gabriele Oriali said: 'Giggs is fundamental to our plans of strengthening the team. We could have had him in part-exchange because under certain conditions, United were available for this kind of deal.
'But our intention now is to wait until the summer, when we will make a significant offer.'
Publicly, Giggs maintained that he had no interest. But Inter insisted it would not take no for an answer, even though it set up an elaborate smokescreen later on to see off any competition for his signature. But its Italian rival Juventus let the cat out of the bag last week.
Giggs has suffered a marked dip in form while the relationship with some of his team-mates shows few signs of healing.
It has also been claimed that Ferguson intervened, telling his players to leave their private lives at home and stop shunning Giggs.
Amid the heated bust-up between Beckham and Ferguson after the FA Cup defeat by Arsenal two Saturdays ago came further claims that Ferguson was forced to defend Giggs.
If an e-mail currently doing the rounds is to be believed, Beckham responded to Ferguson's rollicking by suggesting Giggs should have been on the receiving end after his glaring miss.
It is claimed Beckham said: 'Why didn't you have a go at the p***k who missed the sitter? Oh, I forgot, he doesn't get b*****ked.'
The truth of that is questionable, but the fact remains that there is a genuine rift between players who were once the closest of team-mates.
The only way to solve it could be for Giggs to walk out of Old Trafford and into the San Siro.
