Rio Ferdinand has claimed that David Beckham “will come with a consortium” should he be involved with a potential bid for Manchester United.
17 years on from the Glazer takeover, the American family has finally put the club up for sale. This is what United fans wanted but we remain cautiously optimistic about the future – until we know who is going to be successful in their attempts to buy the club.
Since the announcement was made on Tuesday night, a whole host of names have been linked with a possible bid. One being David Beckham.
The co-owner of Inter Miami has reportedly said that he would be open to the idea of joining a consortium to buy the club from the Glazers.
Ferdinand has revealed on his FIVE YouTube show that he met with Beckham in Qatar on Friday night at the England vs USA game, along with some information about how the former United midfielder will approach a potential bidding process.
“Becks will come with a consortium. I saw Becks last night at the [England vs USA] game, I went to the England game and we were sat next to each other. He smelt beautiful, looked beautiful. He looked a million dollars, as he normally does. He didn’t look 10 billon dollars’ worth (the rumoured amount required to buy United).
“But when you mention someone like Becks’ name, he’s obviously a part-owner of Inter Miami, but he doesn’t come [alone]. It’s not his money. It’s not him in terms of putting his hand in his pocket. He comes with a consortium. He comes with people who do have deep pockets who have the ability to go and execute on a deal like that.
“So that’s the way he’ll be approaching it, and rightly so. I just think it’s going to come down to a number. If you’ve got the number, and you can produce, that’s what it’s going to be about.”
Ferdinand added that he would like to see a former United player involved in any potential ownership of the club.
“I think when you look at it, the clubs that are successful over big periods of time have players that have worn the shirt, understand the traditions, understand the history, understand the ethos of the football club and continue that.
“Ajax with Edwin van der Sar, Bayern Munich have [Karl-Heinz] Rummenigge in there among others, Real Madrid, Barca – they all do it. They’ve all got players who have been in and around the football club at some point in their life and they’re back in there working at the club because they understand it. And it’s a key part.
“And then they have business people around them, to facilitate and run things and control the business element of the football club. And then those people learn on the job, but with a football background. And I think that’s an area that the new owners that potentially come in have to really look at.”
And so speaks the ultimate ‘gob’ on a stick about his pal, who ironically has an ego at least as big as Ronaldo’s – no thank you!!