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Rio Ferdinand slams Manchester United recruitment policy from past 10 years

Originally posted on Stretty News | By Dale O'Donnell | Last updated 5/15/24

Rio Ferdinand is the latest former Manchester United player to take aim at the club’s recruitment policy over the last decade.

The former centre-back claims there are only three players that have arrived and performed at the levels expected from them.

One of them is Bruno Fernandes, who has been linked with a shock move away from United this summer.

United have notoriously struggled in the transfer market in recent years, which is why INEOS have come in and immediately started making changes to the recruitment team.

The arrival of Dan Ashworth has been delayed, but it’s only a matter of time before he becomes sporting director. We’ve also hired Jason Wilcox as Technical Director.

They will want to change United’s reputation in terms of recruitment after years of bad business. Ed Woodward was guilty of overpaying for players, signing the wrong players and being unable to move players on because of the wages they were on.

Speaking to Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman on The Sports Agents podcast, Ferdinand said that Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are the only three that have done what is expected of them.

Ferdinand said: “When you look at the recruitment, I think there’s only three players that I can remember coming in and then going, ‘Okay, they’ve played at a level that you would have expected.

“Bruno [Fernandes], Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Zlatan [Ibrahimovic]. The only three players I thought that you go actually I saw consistently what I expected to seer from them.

“Everyone else just feel well short. For whatever reason it is, they just haven’t hit a standard you expect them to come in for. There’s no value in them in what you expect. So they have to get to the bottom of that.”

This article first appeared on Stretty News and was syndicated with permission.

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