RIO FERDINAND

Rio Ferdinand - on his way out of Elland Road?

As first expected Rio Ferdinand played a major role in England's success of reaching the last 8, and to me, he was the player of the tournament, by far the best player from all teams, nevermind England. Lets face it, he is truly magnificent, so if people think that he should play at International level, then he should almost certainly play in Europe, preferably the Champions League.

However, at the moment, he is not getting champions league football and not playing against teams of his standard around Europe, so this is where the first transfer speculation started.

After a superb performance against Argentina in the group stage, his value inside the first minute of that match was 23 million at its highest. I don't think anyone will have guessed that in an hour and a half's time, that figure was to rise by 7 million giving him a value of 30 million. With this in mind, big clubs started to question, and the unthinkable seemed likely to the Leeds United fans.

David O'Leary was to try and calm the clubs fans down by saying that he is not for sale, much to the dislike of chairman Peter Risdale, who has been very busy to say the least. He certainly did not agree with O'Leary as his priority was to indeed sell Rio Ferdinand to try and recover some 50 million pound that O'Leary has supposedly spent, and also, he has not brought a trophy to Leeds in the 4 years of his reign. Risdale demanded 35 million pound at least, a sum which is huge, but one can ask themselves, is he worth it? I, for one, certainly think so. O'Leary demanded that this was a rumour and therefore this was the primary reason for his recent sacking. Also, Rio Ferdinand was quick to give an opinion of his managers sacking. He said 'It is a big shock and I am disappointed'. Maybe now, this could give him an incentive to move. What do you think?

28/06/02: - Peter Risdale decides that he will definitely not sell Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United.. was this a mistake to make a big comment of that sort?

I am certain, that I will update you with more news on this, extremely soon.

Email me at: sr_lifton@hotmail.com with suggestions and comments on this or any subject.

Last Updated: 28/06/02