Rio Ferdinand: It would be tougher to choose Manchester United now... you want to win trophies!

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Manchester United begin Champions League campaign away to PSV
Rio Ferdinand move to Old Trafford for £32million in 2002
Ferdinand formed part of Champions League-winning side of 2008

Published: 16:35 EST, 12 September 2015 | Updated: 20:40 EST, 12 September 2015

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Manchester United’s return to the Champions League this week represents something of a conundrum for Rio Ferdinand.

He is excited that his former team are back among Europe’s elite but United’s current status does not inspire confidence.

And not only over their inability to compete at later stages of the Champions League; indeed, Ferdinand does not believe that any of the Premier League’s finest are ready to challenge Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

Rather, it is the fact that United are much further off the pace in Europe than Manchester City and Chelsea which troubles him.

Daley Blind (centre) is mobbed by his Manchester United team-mates following his strike on Saturday

Here is a Manchester United stalwart, a veteran of the Sir Alex Ferguson years, who left a club two years ago with a seemingly unshakeable hold on English football.

Now, two years on, Ferdinand surveys a scene which has changed beyond recognition. So much so that if he were a young player weighing up a move now, as he was back in 2002 when he moved for £32million, it would be much harder to make a case for Old Trafford.

‘The landscape has changed totally,’ he said. ‘When Man United came in for me there were other clubs — Barcelona, Real Madrid, Roma, Chelsea.

‘But my whole thinking was trophies. It wasn’t about how much money I was earning, it wasn’t about where I was living, it was, “Who is going to get me to win trophies in this country?” That was Man United. I’m playing for Alex Ferguson. That’s it. That’s all I cared about. And the rest is history.

‘Nowadays Man United are competing against Manchester City, who have got more money, against Chelsea, who have got as much money or more, (the opportunity of) living in London and they’re going for titles. There’s so much more to contend with for Manchester United these days when they go in for players.’

Former United stalwart Ferdinand thinks Louis van Gaal's side won't go close to winning the Premier League

It seems Ferdinand, a pundit for BT Sport, would have had a much tougher decision if forced to make that choice now. ‘Would you sit there and say Man United have got the best chance of winning me silverware as a player?’ he asks.

‘I don’t think United are going to win the league this year. John Stones is going to give somebody 10 years’ good service I’d say. So when you go in for a player like that you’ve got to start selling them the dream. There are a lot of ways to try to get this guy in the door but you hope the kids of today are saying, “Where am I going to win my trophies?” ’

The suggestion is that Chelsea and Manchester City would be ahead in the queue, though Ferdinand is reassured about one point in this second year of Louis van Gaal. ‘United will finish in the top four but I don’t think they’ll go close to winning the league,’ he said.

A potential front trio of Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial (pictured) and Memphis Depay excites Ferdinand

It is not the triumphant rallying cry one might have expected in the Fergie years, where only winners were tolerated. Old Trafford, once impregnable, is now frequently breached. The core of a team, underpinned by a generation of exceptional youth-team graduates, has been replaced.

When United were arguably at their peak in winning the 2008 Champions League and finishing runners-up, in 2009 and 2011, they were blessed with some exceptional players, not least when Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney were their front three. The current attack doesn’t look nearly as good.

‘It’s not,’ agrees Ferdinand. ‘But if you look at potential, Memphis Depay, Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney looks exciting. But are Man United preparing for tomorrow or today? If Martial comes in and hits the ground running and scores 25 goals this season, I’ll be amazed because he’s an unknown quantity. How many games is he going to play? Will he play wide or No 9 or No 10? Nobody knows yet.’

Martial shares with Ferdinand the experience of being an expensively acquired young player with a need to prove himself: Ferdinand was the world’s most expensive defender, while Martial will be the world’s most expensive teenager if he meets the criteria for the subsidiary clauses in his transfer. Yet it is all very different to the club Ferdinand joined in 2002.

‘I was lucky. When I went there it was a great place in terms of protecting players. That was one of Fergie’s biggest strengths. He didn’t allow you to be exposed too much, especially in my first year.

‘I went into a changing room with Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastian Veron. These are world-class players and the expectation was on them to produce, rather than me. Whereas Martial is coming in now under huge expectations and all of them are trying to prove themselves, too, other than Rooney and Michael Carrick.

Ferdinand and Sir Alex Ferguson (left) celebrate their Premier League triumph in 2013

‘And even Carrick is having to prove himself to the new regime. So everyone else is in the same boat as Martial, so they’re not worried about alleviating that responsibility. They’ll want to help him but the dynamics are totally different. So in that sense it will be more difficult for him than it was for me.’

There is a paradox when assessing this United. Though Ferdinand was an expensive signing, he was the exception in those days. Yet the team were one of Europe’s elite; the current crop have cost an awful lot more but are not near that status.

‘There was Barcelona and us as the best teams in Europe for a good few years,’ said Ferdinand. How might they have benefited from the current, lavish regime of Ed Woodward? ‘That gets on my nerves as well. I was on the phone to Nemanja Vidic the other day and we were both saying the change is unreal in terms of personnel and the transfer policy. We were saying, “If they’d spent £50m when we were there, we’d have won how much more?”’

As for what the season holds for United, it does not sound as inspiring as it might once have done. ‘If they get their hands on the FA Cup and finish second, you can see that is an improvement,’ said Ferdinand.

After £250million of spending, it might be assumed that the time for excusing United’s lack of trophies might be over. ‘I don’t think that Van Gaal would want to give excuses,’ said Ferdinand. ‘He seems like a really straight type of guy to me. If he feels he hasn’t got anywhere to go, I think he’ll hold his hand up at the end of it.’

We may well see if that is the case come May.

Watch PSV v Manchester United on Tuesday 15 September live and exclusive from 7.30pm on BT Sport 2. BT Sport is the new home of European football, with all UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches exclusively live. Visit bt sport.com/europe