Rio Ferdinand is adamant Sebastian Veron could have been a huge success at Old Trafford of not for the presence of Roy Keane, saying the Irishman ‘killed him’.
Veron moved from Lazio to United in 2001 in a £28.1million deal – which at the time was the record for a Premier League transfer move – though struggled to adapt in England and was sold at a loss to Chelsea two years later.
But Ferdinand is a huge fan of the playmaker and says he showed his class in training, though felt he needed to have the team built around him which could not happen with Keane in the team.
In an Instagram Live on Tuesday, Ferdinand was asked to choose between Veron and Guti, saying: ‘Oh what a good question. Veron or Guti… For the older listeners, older viewers out here, Veron, Sebastian Veron, scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen in training.
‘The little rabona thing, bang from the halfway line, the whole training session shut down, stopped. “Did you just see that, what Juan Sebastian’s just done there?”
‘He was an unbelievable player, great passer. The only thing I think that killed him was Roy Keane was probably a bit more of a dominant personality and was picking the ball up in his positions.
‘You have to remember Veron came from Lazio, Parma where he was the main man, the whole game went through him. He came to United, that’s what Roy Keane did.
‘Keane came and got it off the defenders, passed it through to the midfielders and attackers, and got in positions and was very vocal, like “Yeah, give me the ball! Give me the ball!”
‘And out of respect probably Seba just said, “I’ll let Roy keep doing that”. But Seba was an amazing talent. I honestly think without Roy Keane there he might have flourished in a Man United shirt.
‘I think Roy Keane was his problem. And it wasn’t Roy Keane’s fault, it’s just that his personality was bigger and more overpowering.’
Switching back to former Real Madrid star Guti, he added: ‘If you go on YouTube and type in Guti, he was at Real Madrid for a number of years, and see what that guy was doing.
‘Absolutely mesmerising footballer. Crazy skills. The backheel he does, you’ve got to go and get it, go on YouTube, watch Guti’s backheel he does for one of the goals, it’s unbelievable, he sets someone up. What a player.’
