Man Utd: Ferdinand slams ‘absolute balls-up’ with £16m transfer decision – ‘he should have stayed’
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has hit out at his former club for letting one player leave who “should have stayed”.
Man Utd have a dire track record in the transfer market as they have made plenty of poor decisions, though this changed during this summer’s window.
The Red Devils spent over £200m as one of this summer’s biggest spenders in Europe on Senne Lammens, Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, with each of these signings making a great impact in recent matches.
Ruben Amorim’s side also managed to offload most of their ‘bomb squad’ members on their terms, with fees secured in permanent deals or buy options for Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Antony.
However, this has not always been the case, and Ferdinand has slammed Man Utd’s decision to sell Danny Welbeck to Arsenal in 2014 for around £16m.
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The 34-year-old proved to be a solid addition for Arsenal and he has enjoyed a late-career renaissance at Brighton, scoring 15 Premier League goals since the start of last season.
Now, Ferdinand has explained why it was an “absolute balls-up” from Man Utd to offload Welbeck.
“I think he should’ve stayed at Man United, obviously, sometimes it’s not his decision,” Ferdinand said on Rio Ferdinand Presents.
“I think it was an absolute balls-up that they actually let him leave the football club.
“A Manchester boy, loves the club, a great kid, never a day’s trouble for anybody at the football club, never gets into trouble, his nose is always clean, got a nice way about him, great family… what are you selling him for?
“If the manager had come in, I think it might have been Van Gaal, whoever came in and said, ‘you can go’, you say, ‘no, no, this one is out of your hands, mate, this ain’t for you, you don’t know the detail behind this one, leave this to us’, and he’s in, he’s staying with us. That’s what should have happened with Danny Welbeck.
“He’s a class act on and off the pitch, a great guy.”
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Ferdinand has also explained why he thinks Welbeck needs to be in England’s squad for next summer’s World Cup as the “second to Harry Kane”.
“He’s second to Harry Kane,” Ferdinand added.
“If you’re talking form right now and the squad was being picked tomorrow, Danny Welbeck has to go, no?
“Experience, can do different types of things on the pitch for you, he can run in behind if need be, we saw that at Old Trafford, he can come short and link play as well as anybody outside of Harry Kane, He’s an all-round footballer, if it wasn’t for the injuries he had earlier in his career.
“I would take him. If he finishes the season in the form he’s in right now, there’s no way you can’t take him because he’s only going there for a month, it ain’t like we’re saying to him he has to play a full season, you’ve got to be ready and that role he can do that, coming in and out, be a support act for someone like Harry Kane.”
