I disagree that United would’ve been a better move for him, whilst there would’ve been benefits of playing under Ferguson, he also may never have broken in and arsenal at the time were very willing to throw young players in and give them a chance.
What I don’t and will never understand is why the club accepted Arsenal’s bid. From what has been reported the cash value was the same but United offered him back on loan for a season (which may have made the difference to our promotion bid that year), if arsenal weren’t prepared to loan him then fair enough but we were in a position to negotiate a higher fee because of that and yet failed to do so.