Shocking Ferdinand revelation over Manchester United’s failed Bellingham transfer will ‘enrage’ fans
Manchester United ITK Rio Ferdinand has heard from “a very good source” why Jude Bellingham turned them down in 2020. You, dear reader, will not believe it.
Hend of the line
Credit to MailOnline for trying their utmost to drive some traffic on this, the most international break Wednesday there has ever been outside of an actual international break.
This is the top story on their website:
‘Cristiano Ronaldo and Jordan Henderson involved in a heated row in Saudi Arabia after former Liverpool captain escaped red card in bad-tempered game – ex-Man United forward lost his cool with fans’
With a sub-headline of ‘IT’S UTD VS LIVERPOOL!’ you really cannot fault their efforts.
Hey, Jude
With Jude Bellingham in the news for being very good at football indeed, and the media generally still busy finding new ways to laugh at Manchester United, any chance to combine those two hobbies is unlikely to be passed up.
And when Rio Ferdinand speaks, some people listen. Then others take the quotes and do the story themselves because his name has headline value as a well-known pundit.
The Daily Mirror website certainly knows that, going for: ‘Rio Ferdinand makes claim about real reason Jude Bellingham rejected Man Utd transfer’
Apparently Ferdinand ‘has risked enraging fans’ by revealing that Manchester United missed out on a deal for the then-Birmingham midfielder after ‘failing to give Bellingham the guarantees he wanted’. He cites his own “very good source” and everything.
‘Jude Bellingham WASN’T given assurances he’d start for Man Utd says Rio Ferdinand as he reveals why ace snubbed transfer,’ says The Sun website, who also treat Ferdinand like some sort of club insider offering new information.
In fairness, that is precisely how Ferdinand presents himself when telling his Vibe with Five podcast:
“Do you know what I heard it was? He wanted some assurances about being a first-team player. And United weren’t willing to give him those assurances, that’s what I heard from a very good source.
“He wasn’t given assurances of being around the first team and he’s said, ‘do you know what, I know my worth, I know my value and if you don’t value me the way I see myself I’m going to have to jog on and go to another club’.”
All perfectly fine and good until you remember that that is no revelation at all; those lines were out there when Bellingham rejected Manchester United more than three years ago.
As Sky Sports wrote at the time: ‘A lot of people will be asking why the Birmingham youngster has turned down Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea to follow in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho and sign for the Bundesliga club. Unlike their competitors, Dortmund offer that most precious of commodities – guaranteed game time. They do not offer 10-12 league games a season and a place on the bench in the Champions League. They offer 30 league games and a starting XI shirt in Europe. In terms of time on the pitch, the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid simply cannot compete.’
READ MORE: The Ballon d’Or completes its descent into meaningless, offensive football ‘content’
In February 2022, The Athletic said that: ‘Murtough was also involved in the pursuit of Jude Bellingham, which did not go United’s way, and some close to the talks feel the presentation could have made a more compelling case for first-team minutes at Old Trafford.’
James Ducker, a respected Manchester United journalist for the Daily Telegraph, wrote that with ‘a greater chance of starting regularly for Dortmund than United, the attraction is obvious’.
Dong Ren, Birmingham CEO at the time, later said: “United made the biggest offer we received compared to Bayern, Dortmund, Leicester or other clubs like Wolves. Ed Woodward was the most insistent. We sat down and talked about how we could convince Bellingham. But Jude didn’t make any decisions based on money. They offered much more salary compared to the rest. Maybe double. He put all that behind his development.”
And Bellingham himself noted in separate interviews:
“I chose Dortmund because it is the perfect step for my development. The record they have with young players in recent years is unrivalled in European football.”
“The way they integrate young players into the first-team squad is next level. There is not a club in Europe that does it quite like them. The only thing I was bothered about in making this decision was playing football, and it was the best place to do that. There’s plenty of young players out there who, if given the chance, would shine at first-team level but they don’t quite get the chance for whatever reason. I’m almost an example.”
Long story short: Ferdinand – or his “very good source” – have read the same quotes and excerpts over the last three years as everyone else, he has revealed nothing that wasn’t already in the public sphere, and he has not ‘risked enraging fans’ at all unless they are really very dim indeed.
Shear class
The Daily Express website‘s top story sums things up, too:
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino fires back at Alan Shearer ahead of Blackburn clash
The entirety of the comments in which Pochettino ‘fires back’ at Shearer can be found here:
“It’s really dangerous, this type of analysis because it’s one game. I cannot lie, it wasn’t his best. But we need to be fair. If you watch Luton, if you watch Dortmund in pre-season, if you watch Liverpool, you will see this is one player. The Brentford game was another player.
“I agree with the analysis, but it’s not fair to say he is not this or that or to say he is not capable of doing what we expect of him. I believe in him, I believe. The only problem is time.”
Don’t base things on one game but ultimately “I agree with the analysis”. Consider yourself told, Al.
Mike drop
‘MIKE KEEGAN: The 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia will be all glamour and glitz… but there will be no booze for fans’
The MailOnline, there, getting to the heart of the single biggest issue with holding a World Cup in Saudi Arabia. The only issue, if anything.
