Ferdinand picks out three new ‘characters’ Man Utd have under Ten Hag
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Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has admitted he’s been impressed by ‘characters’ like Antony, Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez at the club so far. Erik ten Hag brought in the trio back in the summer transfer window, with the Red Devils spending big as they look to close the gap on their Premier League rivals. And Ferdinand has also opened up on the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Tevez, too.
Manchester United experienced a difficult start to the Ten Hag era, losing their first two Premier League matches against Brighton and Brentford.
However, since then, they’ve responded by winning their last four matches across all competitions.
Martinez has stood tall during those showdowns, Casemiro has impressed upon coming off the bench while Antony scored on his debut against Arsenal on Sunday.
Now, Ferdinand has opened up in the trio on William Hill’s Stripped Podcast – and insisted they’re all ‘characters’ who can benefit Ten Hag as he looks to re-awaken a sleeping giant.
“I just think he’s brought discipline,” he said when asked about Ten Hag and the job he’s done at United so far.
“One thing I liked that he said was that he was happy with the ‘people he had bought not just the players.’
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“It seems he’s brought in good characters, Casemiro is the obvious one, [Lisandro] Martinez is the right sort you want in games.
“Antony looks like he wants to be the main man and he’s enjoying the limelight. The right noises are coming out of the club at the moment.”
Ferdinand knows all about the pressure of playing for United.
He joined the Red Devils back in the summer transfer window of 2002, shortly after impressing for England as they reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup that year.
Ferdinand had been playing for Leeds at the time, one of United’s fiercest rivals, and upset many at Elland Road when he crossed the divide.
And he’s now admitted that he once told a fan he’d never move to Old Trafford while out in Magaluf with Frank Lampard.
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“Frank Lampard and I went to Magaluf one year, it was FA Cup final weekend and Manchester United were playing Newcastle,” he said.
“I was in the toilet and a United fan came up to me and went ‘I bet you’d love to play for us, wouldn’t you?’ and I went ‘never would I play for Man United ever, dead team, no chance.’
“That was because I was jealous as they just kept winning.
“I first spoke to Sir Alex [Ferguson] during the 2002 World Cup. I played well in the tournament and I remember I was speaking to some of his players like Nicky Butt and they were saying ‘you’ve got to come to Man United, it’s bigger than being with England.’
“My whole being of being a footballer was winning and up to that point I hadn’t won anything.
“I needed to go [to Man United], I couldn’t waste any more time. I loved it at Leeds, but I needed to go and that was it.
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“When you first sign you don’t know what to call him [Sir Alex Ferguson]. He’s got such an aura about him, especially when you first go there.
“To be fair, he’s such a kind and giving human being of time and he really gets to know your personality and character.
“One of his best traits was that it wasn’t a blanket approach to everybody, he knew the right approach for each player.
“He would look at everything from a premeditated angle, he was doing the mental health stuff before mental health was a thing.”
Ferdinand also touched upon Tevez, too.
The Argentina international rocked United by moving to Manchester City in 2009 after two successful years on loan at Old Trafford.
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And Ferdinand thinks that was a catalyst for Manchester City becoming a superpower of the game. He said: “When I first signed for United, Manchester City were nothing.
“They weren’t even on our radar and they were never going to win anything despite them being our local rivals.
“They might beat us but they’re not going to win the league. All of a sudden they got that injection of money and they started building and then everyone realised they were here to stay.
“The big one was one [Carlos] Tevez went there. We all knew how good he was and what a player they were getting.
“He wanted to sign the contract well before the club came to him and the kind of guy he was, he thought that was disrespectful and that’s why he didn’t sign.
“The chairman at the time, David Gill, asked me to ring him to try and get him to sign and I remember his agent telling me ‘it doesn’t matter what money they offer him, he won’t sign.’”
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