Jonny Evans, who spent almost a decade at United during his first spell at the club, making 198 appearances and helping the club win three Premier League titles.
The Northern Ireland international fell out of favor with former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal and was sold to West Brom for just £8 million in 2015.
Since then, United has struggled with stability in the centre-back position, which prompted them to bring Jonny Evans back at 35 years old during the summer of 2023.
Before his return to Old Trafford, Evans spent five successful years at Leicester City, and last season, he made 30 appearances across all competitions for United.
This season, the veteran has continued to feature regularly and delivered a Man of the Match performance in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.
Rio Ferdinand believes this performance further proves that Evans should never have been sold, suggesting that he was a player the club could have built around rather than letting him go for a modest fee.
‘He should have had another 12 years at Manchester United,’ Ferdinand said of Evans on his YouTube channel.
‘As soon as they sold him I said, “wow, who’s sanctioned this? How can you let him go?” He’s arguably your best defender there.
‘He was experienced as well, he had more experience than Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. You can’t let him go.
‘He understands the fabric of the club. If you want to keep a culture at a club you need players who understand it and have been there. He’s one of them.
‘They could have built around him. Look at the amount of partnerships they’ve tried to create and the amount of centre-halves they’ve bought since him.’
Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones echoed Ferdinand’s opinion, stating that he wasn’t at all shocked to see Evans deliver such a strong performance in the draw against Villa.
‘That didn’t surprise me. He’s a top player,’ said Jones, who hung up his boots in August after a long and frustrating period with injuries.
‘People look at his age but he’s still a top player. Him being Man of the Match wasn’t a surprise to me because I know the qualities he has.
‘He’s comfortable on the ball, he reads the game well, he knows what it takes to play for United, he’s an organiser and a leader.’
The fact Evans looked like United’s best player against Aston Villa ‘felt wrong’, according to Paul Scholes.
‘Jonny knows the way of Manchester United, I think you’ve got to give him every credit, he was good today,’ Scholes said on Premier League Productions.
‘There’s just something that feels a little bit wrong about it to me, to have a player who has come back after so long, he just came to train with the team, to keep fit, another year later he’s Manchester United’s best centre-half.
‘That tells you that something isn’t quite right. Man United are 14th in the Premier League, that tells you something is not quite right.
‘But I do agree, I think they were a lot better organised today, they look more difficult to play against, more difficult to break through.’
