Dias was the difference to Manchester City's defence last year, as they ran away with the Premier League title, Van Dijk's impact at Liverpool was huge, and his absence last season really showed that, and Manchester United will be hoping Varane can do the same for them this campaign and going forward.
However Ferdinand, who was once part of arguably the league's greatest ever defensive partnership with Nemanja Vidic, thinks it's Chelsea's Rudiger who has been the best defender since Thomas Tuchel arrived in England at the beginning of There was rumours there were trying to put him in the market to be sold.
Him and Varane, [Sergio] Ramos in previous years, as well, they have been the top boys," said Ferdinand, confirming his trio of selections.
Varane is unrivalled alongside Ramos in terms of winning, but with the way his form has been over the last three years, Van Dijk has been immense, man, he's been crazy. He's what I've been asking for over the last three or four years, or five years. In times of peril, we often crave escapism. Only specific buildings and areas were targeted as part of these bombings, and fortunately for many, football stadiums were not one of them.
Therefore, people did not feel threatened within them. A young Nemanja Vidic emerged from this turmoil and began his professional career with Red Star Belgrade in His time in the club culminated in him winning the league with them in , before eventually transferring to Russian club, Spartak Moscow the very next season.
Just as expected, Vidic continued to impress, putting in several stellar performances in Russia. Initially, it seemed as though his most likely destination would be Italy, as he was reportedly in advanced talks with Fiorentina.
In fact, Pantaleo Corvino, the Fiorentina president at the time claims to have gifted Vidic a designer bag after he had signed personal terms with them. Even Liverpool were in the race for Vidic, as Rafa Benitez had personally spoken to him to confirm their interest in him.
However, Manchester United learned that Fiorentina did not have any non- EU spots available in their team for him. Virtually killing the deal before it began. Further to that, Liverpool were failing to make a concrete offer. Took a while but we made it.
However, Vidic was still getting used to a new club, a new country and an entirely new system. After all, he went from playing in a relatively weak league, to playing against these guys in training on a daily basis. I feel as though that warrants an extended adjustment period. Now before we get into what these two achieved, I want to talk a little bit about what made them such a formidable pair. The two of them worked for several reasons. By several accounts, including that of Ferdinand himself, Vidic was an extremely serious, extremely focussed individual.
He would train hard and completely commit to the cause. A testament to his mentality was his reaction to initially not being physically ready for the Premier League when he arrived. According to many, Paul Scholes included, Vidic was a skinny, relatively non-threatening player when he first arrived at the beginning of In the months ttrshat followed, Vidic completely immersed himself in self-improvement, building his strength and studying the English game.
Physically, he may not have been up to par for the league from the offset. However, Mentally, he was good to go. He was incredibly strong on his feet, in the air and when going to ground and was certainly no stranger to putting his body on the line to win the ball for his team. In addition to this his understanding of the game as a whole was insanely good. Simply put, the guy was a warrior. While Ferdinand certainly led by example himself, he was also the more vocal of the two.
In his own words, he was not afraid to let himself be heard whenever he could. On the pitch, in the bus, in the hotel. You name it. But there was more to him than that. This was due to his immense comfort on the ball and ability to bring it into the midfield.
This quote is a little more significant than it seems on the surface. Armed with elegance, pace and astute reading of the game, Ferdinand was a distinguished servant from until , forming one of the most formidable central-defensive partnerships in the club's history alongside Nemanja Vidic. Rio called time on his trophy-laden stay at Old Trafford on 12 May , saying: "After 12 fantastic years playing for what I regard as the best club in the world, I have decided the time is right for me to move on.
Although his first season was initially hampered by injury, Rio became an integral player as United overtook Arsenal to claim the Barclays Premier League, capping a fine debut season in M16 for the new recruit. However, in September , disaster struck as Ferdinand missed a routine drugs test and was later banned from football for eight months, not returning until a win over Liverpool in September After that, Rio consistently justified his tag as a world-class defender, providing the silk to United's defensive steel while chipping in with occasional valuable goals.
In May , Ferdinand signed a new five-year contract to keep him at Old Trafford until Certainly, without his consistency at the back, the Reds may not have gone on to win another league title. Although the campaign yielded no major trophies, the centre-back made 38 appearances and his invaluable experience helped United take the title fight down to the final day. Notably, Ferdinand's form warranted a place in the PFA Team of the Year and, after five years without scoring, he even managed to net the winner in Sir Alex's final home match as manager against Swansea.
Ferdinand will be remembered at Old Trafford as a giant of modern football and is widely regarded as one of the finest defenders in the club's history and, indeed, in the English game.
0コメント