Rio FerdinandOn 22 July
2002, Ferdinand joined another Premier League club, Manchester United,
on a five year deal to become the most expensive British footballer in
history, the world's most expensive defender again (a title he had lost
in 2001 to Lilian Thuram). The fee included a basic element in the high
twenty millions, and some conditional elements, which allowed Leeds to
tell their fans that they were selling him for over thirty million.
Leeds United later took a single payment in place of all the contingent
elements when they were desperate for cash during their financial
crisis. The final book value of Ferdinand's contract in Manchester
United's accounts was £33 million. This included agents' fees, with
Leeds receiving in the region of £30 million. Ferdinand's early Man Utd
form was very poor, which culminated in his horror show against Real
Madrid in the Champions League. Ferdinand is often criticised for his
tendency to make crucial errors and have lapses in concentration. Most
notably, Franco Baresi labelled him as a poser.
Ferdinand in a Manchester United shirt.
Ferdinand went on to win the Premier League title with Manchester
United in his first season. He has also collected a winner's medal in
the 2006 Carling Cup, with runners-up medals in the 2003 Carling Cup
and the 2005 FA Cup.
On 14 December 2005, in a game against Wigan Athletic, Ferdinand scored
his first goal for United, en-route to a 4-0 victory. This was his
first goal after more than three years at Old Trafford. He followed
this up with a powerfully headed goal against West Bromwich Albion. He
then scored a last minute winner against Liverpool at Old Trafford,
possibly his most important Manchester United goal to date. In the
corresponding fixture in the following season on 22 October 2006, Rio
scored again in a 2-0 victory. Ferdinand and his brother held an
informal competition on how many goals they could score during the
2005-06 season, though neither are prolific goal scorers, which Rio won
3-2.
Following impressive and consistent performances in the league, Rio
Ferdinand was named in the 2006–07 PFA Premiership Team of the Season
alongside seven of his fellow Manchester United teammates.
Ferdinand started the 07–08 season well, he was part of a United
defence that managed to keep 6 clean sheets in a row in the Premier
League, before conceding an early goal to Aston Villa at Villa Park on
20 October 2007. It was also during this game where Ferdinand scored
his first goal of the season, which was United's 3rd goal of that game,
with a left foot strike which took a very strong deflection off one of
Villa's defenders. Just 3 days later, Ferdinand scored his first
European goal for United by opening the scoring against Dynamo Kyiv,
with a superb header. United dominated the game and won 4-2.
On 12 January 2008 Ferdinand bagged a rare Premier League goal in a 6-0 hammering of Newcastle United at Old Trafford.
In their FA Cup quarter-final match against Portsmouth on 8 March 2008
when Manchester United dominated, Ferdinand made a rare appearance as a
goalkeeper, after Edwin van der Sar left the pitch with a groin injury
and the replacement keeper, Tomasz Kuszczak, was sent off after
conceding a penalty. Despite diving the right way, he was unable to
save Sulley Muntari's spot kick, and Manchester United were eliminated
from the FA Cup.
On 6 April 2008, against Middlesbrough, Ferdinand limped out of the
match due to a foot injury. He was rated doubtful whether he would face
A.S. Roma in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg on 9
April 2008. He would play the full 90 minutes, though he received three
stitches at half-time.
Despite having been linked with a move to Barcelona, it was announced
on 16 April 2008 that, along with Michael Carrick and Wes Brown,
Ferdinand had agreed to sign a new five-year contract, worth around
£130,000 a week, which would keep him with United until 2013. The
contract was finally signed on 15 May 2008.
On 21 May 2008, Ferdinand captained Manchester United to a Champions
League Final victory versus Chelsea. He accepted the trophy together
with Ryan Giggs, as Giggs was the on field captain for most of the
matches during that season during Gary Neville's absence due to injury.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live he criticised FIFA's approach to
tackling racism in football, stating that not enough was being done to
punish those guilty of homophobic or racist abuse at matches. Regarding
taunts aimed at Emile Heskey in England's 4–1 victory against Croatia
in Zagreb, Ferdinand remarked:
"Croatia were fined a few thousand quid. What's that going to do?
That is not going to stop people shouting racist or homophobic
abuse...If things like this keep happening you have to take points off
them. Then the punters will realise the team is going to be punished."
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Last Updated on Sunday, 02 November 2008 11:04 |
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