Revealed: Now we know why Sunderland didn't sign Gibson

Sir Alex has accused Sunderland of messing Darron Gibson about by changing their offer to him.

Republic of Ireland midfielder Gibson, 23, was on the verge of following John O'Shea and Wes Brown out of Old Trafford to the Stadium of Light.

But the deal broke down leaving Gibson, 23, in limbo.

Manchester United boss Ferguson said: "He was on the point of going to Sunderland and somewhere along the line, I don't know exactly when, I think Sunderland moved the goalposts.

"I suppose their job is to try and save money.

"From what I can gather, they gave him an offer and then changed it. That annoyed Darren and I think he's quite right.

"If you can't trust them on day one why wait until day two?"

Gibson, who has been at United since 2005, was understood to be looking for wages of around £40,000 a week.

But the Black Cats' final offer was short of that.

So Gibson could now be off to Stoke or Wigan - with United having left him behind to sort out his future rather than take him on their US tour.

And Ferguson revealed: "Darron was undecided about what to do when we made the group up to come here - and we both felt he'd be better staying back.

"He seems to be in limbo at the moment."