Rio Ferdinand spent 12 seasons playing with the Manchester United jersey where he enjoyed a remarkable career winning the Champions League and 6 Premier League as well as a number of other trophies along the way. The English defender is an icon for many supporters of the club but his time at Old Trafford has reached its end after his contract with Manchester United expired and no contract extension was offered, he was released by the English club.
QPR decided to sign the English player who turned into a free agent after being released by Manchester United. During his time performing at Old Trafford, Ferdinand became one of the top defenders of the world as he attracted the attention of clubs everywhere and the veteran has admitted that one point in time Barcelona and Real Madrid wanted to sign him.
Ferdinand said: “I spoke to Roma and also there was interested from Real Madrid and Barcelona at one time. But when I was at Manchester United and there was interest from other clubs I was winning things at Manchester United. So my head was never turned to go anywhere else. You tell someone from Manchester United or a team that’s winning things that they could go abroad and you would be hard pressed to get them to go. If Gareth Bale had been at Manchester United and winning trophies he wouldn’t have gone to Real Madrid. I was just turned on by winning. I wasn’t interested in going anywhere else.”
A 4th place spot of the past season in the Championship League allowed QPR on securing their ticket for the team of Harry Redknapp to perform once more at the top tier league in England at the Premier League which means that Rio Ferdinand will have the chance to play against some of his former teammates.
Rio Ferdinand will be reunited with his former coach Harry Redknapp as both of them have already worked together some years ago when they met in West Ham United.