Every week we get Rio Ferdinand’s thoughts on football from his YouTube channel.
This week he spoke about West Ham midfielder Declan Rice, who looks set to be priced out of a move away from London this summer, with David Moyes publicly stating that they would only accept an offer in the region of £150 million for the England international.
Rio Ferdinand knows what it means to play for both clubs — Manchester United and West Ham — so I reckon Rice will be listening closely to what he says about the potential transfer.
He sounds worried that Rice may not want to come to Old Trafford because we are not winning trophies, and haven’t done so for five years, but everyone is hoping that Erik ten Hag will help bring success back.
While United have been heavily linked with Rice in recent months, we have not noticed as many reports on the matter since Ten Hag’s arrival.
Instead the focus has been on Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, although the Netherlands international is not the same type of midfielder as Rice. Far from it and United need someone who can carry out the nitty-gritty defensive duties across the middle.
Speaking on his podcast, Vibe with Five, Ferdinand said (via Metro): “It all depends on what Declan Rice wants to do with his career. If he wants to stay at one club in the Premier League – he will be the captain for the next ten years.
“I think Rice is someone who sees himself going to a bigger club and going to fight for honours in the Premier League. But does he leave West Ham who are basically fighting Manchester United for the same position?
“If he does go to somewhere like Man United, [he could] be the catalyst for the next generation, for winning stuff, and you could lead that charge. But if you want to win trophies right at this moment, there is a big question over that.”
Let us know in the comments section if you would like Rice at United next season?
Journos always have devious and diabolical reasons for painting a doomsday scenario for Manchester United’s transfer aspirations.
Surely any top player worth his salt should aspire to go to a club of United’s magnitude to support their ambitions to be top class again and win honours.
What good is it to a player who wants to be part of a team with superstars and fighting to get into the team with playing time limited to cameo appearances and to play sparingly.