Rio Ferdinand has apologised for slamming Manchester United defender Phil Jones in a recent interview. Ferdinand, who shared a dressing room with Jones for three seasons, was scathing in his assessment of the United player earlier this month.
Speaking a couple of days after Manchester United had drawn 1-1 with Southampton, Ferdinand urged Jones to ‘find a new club’ and suggested that he was taking up a place in the squad which could be filled by a youth player.
As you would expect, these comments were not well received by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was quick to hit back at Ferdinand for his remarks.
Now, Ferdinand has reacted to the criticism and apologised for the comments he made, admitting that he did not know about Jones’ injury situation.
“The one area where I would apologise to Phil Jones and anyone at Manchester United who has been a part of his journey,” Ferdinand is quoted as saying by The Mirror.
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“From speaking to people behind the scenes last week, he’s had real issues with injuries. To the extent that Bruno Fernandes only trained with him for the first time last week – so that tells you how long he’s been injured.
“So I didn’t know that, that’s not been communicated to the public. So from that standpoint, for someone who’s been injured, knowing what that does to you from a mental point of view, I hold my hands up and I apologise.”
Jones featured in a friendly against Burnley two weeks ago and has returned to full training at the club. His position is still, however, questioned as he faces a long fi
Rio needs to go and do one!
Rio was spot on with what he said Jones has been out of the team for ages now with no sign of coming back . The club made a huge mistake offering him a contract extension a few years ago . We were in a similar situation with Owen Hargreaves and he eventually was let go . Jone has done nothing to deserve to stay even when fully fit he’s been a loyalty
Phil Jones was never a bad defender. To me he rated higher than Chris Smalling and actually played at the same level with Eric Bailly. If wishes were horses I would put him in the defensive midfield…