Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has revealed that he ‘came close’ to joining Barcelona after holding talks with the club over a move to the Camp Nou.
The former England international became the most expensive defender in the world when the Red devils paid Leeds United £29.1m for Ferdinand in 2002.
Ferdinand developed into the finest defender at the theatre of dreams and the former West Ham centre-back conceded that the finest moment of his career came when he captained United to Champions League glory against Chelsea.
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United had to beat Barca in the semi-finals to reach the final and a Paul Scholes goal in the second-leg put them through to Moscow.
Ferdinand was colossal in Spain as United kept a clean sheet and he’s explained that Barcelona head coach Frank Rijkaard approached him in the tunnel after the game to make it clear that he wanted to sign him.
Talks then progressed between Ferdinand’s agent and the La Liga team but the former United captain says he found everything he was looking for at Old Trafford.
‘It came close there were discussions with my agent,’ Ferdinand told BT Sport.
‘Barcelona had touched base. I’d spoken to Rijkaard not about going there but he kind of made his feelings known. It was after the game in Barcelona we drew 0-0 in the tunnel after the game when I spoke to Rijkaard.
‘I always said I wanted to play abroad but the only thing that would stop me was if I was winning and successful on home shores. I was lucky I found a great club at Manchester United it would’ve been almost impossible for me to leave.
Ferdinand would instead stay at United for the majority of the rest of his career. But he does not regret his decision to reject the club and says the ‘landscape’ was different in 2008.
‘There was calls for me to go to various clubs. When that was on the table those clubs were in transition and it didn’t make sense to go somewhere it might take two or three years to win things.
‘There is an etiquete but you get the gist of what someone is saying I think Frank was a very respectful gentleman. But at the end of the day you know where you’re at after a conversation and then your agent starts to confirm through other channels you understand were you are at at that point.
‘But we beat them and went on to become European Champions so why would I leave them to go to another team. At that point Xavi, Iniesta, Messi was just 20 they were just starting to come through. They weren’t the players they were three or four years later. It was a very different landscape at that time but what a club.’
