Image Credits: Getty Images
Rio Ferdinand is a true club legend, being a vital part of the Red Devils for over a decade as they dominated English football under Sir Alex Ferguson between 2002 and 2014.
The centre-back made 455 appearances during his time at Old Trafford after joining from Leeds for €46 million.
During this time, Ferdinand helped United to lift five different trophies on 15 occasions with the club winning the Premier League six times, including three consecutive wins between 2006/07 and 2008/09. Their cup runs were equally impressive, winning the English League Cup three times including back-to-back wins in 2009 and 2010, and then four wins in the Community Shield.
In Europe, United continued their trophy-winning ways, lifting the Champions League trophy in 2007/08 and then the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009.
On the international stage, Ferdinand was a regular call-up to the England squad, making 81 appearances for the Three Lions, making the squad taken to three different World Cups; France 1998, Japan 2002 and Germany 2006, unfortunately only making it as far as the quarter-finals.
Now having retired from his playing days, Ferdinand has chosen the punditry career rather than getting into management, being a regular pundit for TNT Sports.
Speaking to Mail Sport on X, Ferdinand was taken through the current United squad and asked who he would keep at United and who he’d sell. Surprisingly, the United legend’s sell list only consisted of four players.
The majority of the team, Ferdinand said he’d keep, either from merit or to give them a chance at a second season to prove themself, however, four men would not be given the same opportunity if the centre-back were in charge.
The four players that Ferdinand would be offloading this summer are Harry Maguire, Christian Eriksen, Antony and Jadon Sancho.
Of these four, Eriksen and Sancho are the only two currently expected to make moves away from Old Trafford.
Sancho has been gaining a lot of interest from both Borussia Dortmund and Juventus following his loan to the German club that helped him make his name, with both clubs ready to do battle for the winger’s signature this summer.
Eriksen on the other hand is expected to leave the club, however has declared that he’s not sure where that will be, but it definitely won’t be in Saudi Arabia as he has no interest in the Saudi Pro League at all.
Interestingly Ferdinand made no decision on two other players, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood. For both of the England internationals, Ferdinand expressed that he’d want conversations with the players to understand where their heads are at and depending on the answer, that would help him to decide on what decision he’d make.
