Rio Ferdinand brands ex-England player a "clown" for calling out Phil Jones rant

Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has received backlash after recently claiming that Phil Jones was taking up the spot of an academy player and was a 'waste of time'.

Jones who was a former teammate of Ferdinand's has been hit with consistent injury and recently featured for United for the first time in 18 months, as he played in a friendly against Burnley.

The injury-prone defender still has two years left of his current deal, but Ferdinand has slammed his former club for not moving him on sooner.

Ferdinand stands by his opinion, and branded his former England teammate a 'clown' for disagreeing with his views.

Jim White, Trevor Sinclair and Simon Jordan recently spoke out against Ferdinand on talkSport, with former teammate Sinclair claiming that his comments 'overstepped the line', and said that Jones has aspirations of making a comeback at United.

However, in response to this, Ferdinand called the trio 'clowns' in a comment left on his personal Instagram account under the clip of the discussion, after claiming that Jones isn't a vital part of the team.

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Jones' contract runs until the summer of 2023, and the 29-year-old is still pocketing £130,000-per-week at United, and is unlikely to get anywhere near salary that should he move elsewhere.

United offered Jones an extension on his previous deal, but so far the Englishman has spent the majority of his time in the treatment room since signing the prolonged deal.

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Jones' chances of making a long awaited comeback are even slimmer now the club have secured the £41million signing of Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly are all ahead of Jones in the pecking order.

The 29-year-old is one of the last remaining members from the Sir Alex Ferguson era, and it's likely he will run down his United contract before seeking a new challenge.

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