PSV Eindhoven were very reluctant to lose their defensive collosus and Alex Ferguson had to pull out all the stops in order to acquire somebody who would prove a pillar of the team that lifted the Treble in his first season.
The Eredivisie side were demanding a world-record fee for a defender for the centre-back, who was described as a "one-man defence" by no less a judge than Netherlands footballing icon Johan Cruyff.
With Stam under contract until 2003, talks were difficult to push towards a transfer.
United chairman Martin Edwards conceded after a trip to the Netherlands: “He is a player they don’t want to lose and that’s part of the problem.