Pranav Nair
Rio Ferdinand slams Louis van Gaal for selling three Manchester United stars
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand presents FIVE on Youtube, Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has slammed former boss Louis Van Gaal for selling three players during his time in charge.
The Dutchman took over from David Moyes as the club’s second full-time manager in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. Although his time with the club ended with an FA Cup win, the rebuild did not achieve the expected success.
One trend during Van Gaal’s time at the club was the poor prices at which we sold some of our players. The likes of Shinji Kagawa, Alexander Buttner and Wilfried Zaha all left for a combined £15m.
Ferdinand went on to blast Van Gaal for selling three players – namely Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez and Rafael da Silva. The trio was a part of championship-winning sides under Ferguson and Ferdinand believes they still had something to offer.
“I thought we got rid of good people in Hernandez, Welbeck and Rafael.”
He believes the trio had the United character embedded into them and were proven winners from the club’s glory days. While it can be claimed that neither of them was world-beaters, their presence would have helped transfer that winning mentality to the new players coming in.
“They wanted to play for Manchester United and knew what it meant. They wanted to win and they were part of that previous era that knew how to win.”
Reality bites!
Ferdinand believes such a situation would not happen under today’s leadership. While we would like to think so, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s ‘reported’ treatment of David de Gea does indicate otherwise.
“Manchester United wasn’t set up in the way that they probably are today. They wouldn’t allow that to happen today.”
Ferdinand in particular was effusive in his praise for Welbeck, who he termed as an excellent player. One comfort the club can however take from the transfer dealings is that none of the players went on to do better elsewhere. Small mercies.
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This is not the first time that we have seen a United legend come out against Van Gaal’s transfer dealings. Just last month, Solskjaer bemoaned the fact that Jonny Evans was allowed to join West Bromwich Albion for peanuts in 2015.
