Ferdinand insists it ‘hurts’ that Man Utd missed out on £29.5m signing to bitter PL rivals
Rio Ferdinand was “hurt” to see long-term Man Utd target Jeremie Frimpong sign for arch-rivals Liverpool ahead of the summer transfer window.
The Red Devils had been consistently linked with a move for the Netherlands international over the last year or two, especially while Erik ten Hag was at Old Trafford.
But their terrible performance in the Premier League and failure to qualify for the Champions League means they had no chance of competing with champions Liverpool for Frimpong’s signature this summer.
The Reds completed the signing of Frimpong last week for a fee of £29.5m from Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen after overtaking Man Utd and other competitors.
Liverpool needed to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold with the Anfield academy product making it clear that he wanted to move to Real Madrid this summer.
On why he chose Liverpool, Frimpong told the club’s official website: “It went quite easy. Liverpool came and said they had interest, and obviously for me it was a no-brainer.
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“For me, it was like, ‘Whatever you guys do, just get this done,’ [speaking to] my agents: ‘Just get this done!’
“Liverpool fans, I’m going to give my all, my energy, my work-rate and hopefully we can win together, we celebrate together, get everything together.
“I’m just excited to be here. Thank you guys for accepting me.
“I won’t let you guys down and I’ll give you the energy that you guys want.”
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And Ferdinand, who had hoped Man Utd would make an attempt to sign Frimpong, insists it hurts to miss out on the Dutchman to their bitter rivals.
Ferdinand said on his Youtube channel: “Frimpong is going to Liverpool which will hurt me a little bit, I’ve got to be honest.
“I think he would fit the way that Ruben Amorim wants to play perfectly.”
But Ferdinand is getting enthused over the signing of Matheus Cunha after Man Utd triggered the £62.5m release clause in his contract at Wolves.
Ferdinand added: “I have to say, I’m really excited about Cunha signing.
“I’m happy we signed him, I’m happy with how aggressive we’ve been immediately, acting on it instantly.”
He continued: “I think this is a great start to the transfer window. If I was advising the recruitment team on anything now, I would be saying: “Please make sure you do not forget an experienced No.9”,’ Ferdinand said.
“I’m not going to say names, I’ve said the names too many times, and I would go and get a midfielder as well.
“A midfielder that can dictate the player and pass and be the orchestrator, but he also needs to have some legs about him as well. That’s what Ruben Amorim’s teams are about, they do that.
“Those two players would be the next ones, a centre-forward and a central midfielder, also a right-back.”
