‘Were asking me’: £30m player says he could’ve signed for Real Madrid but he stayed at Man Utd instead

There are two teams in world football that it’s very hard to turn down – Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Indeed, the two Spanish giants are often the final landing spots for the very best players in world football from Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo to Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe.

However, there are a few players over the years have rejected Madrid and Barca.

Steven Gerrard rejected Real Madrid when he was at Liverpool, while Lucas Bergvall recently rejected Barcelona to join Tottenham.

Speaking on TNT Sports, Rio Ferdinand has now been discussing how he almost joined either Real Madrid or Barcelona, but he ultimately opted to stay at Manchester United as the Red Devils were amongst the most successful teams in the world at that time.

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Rio Ferdinand could’ve joined Real Madrid or Barcelona

Ferdinand spoke about his opportunities to go abroad.

The Manchester United legend says he could’ve joined Real Madrid or Barcelona at certain points, but those opportunities arose when both teams were in transitional periods.

Ferdinand instead stayed at Manchester United, where he would be incredibly successful.

“Playing abroad, did you ever have a stage in your career where you wanted to do that?” Ferdinand was asked.

“I thought about it, but it never materialised. I’d worked so hard to get to the top of the tree which was Man United and winning things every year. When opportunities did come around it was just too difficult for me too leave Man United,” Ferdinand said.

“We were winning and all I wanted to do was win. The times it came, the teams that were asking me like Real Madrid and Barcelona, they were in transition and we were winning, I was like, why am I going to go, it’s a risk? I played it safe.”

What would Rio Ferdinand have won at Real Madrid or Barcelona

Ferdinand says that he stayed at United because they were winning trophies at the time, and that wasn’t a bad decision.

Indeed, Ferdinand won all there is to win at United, and during his time at Old Trafford, United’s trophy haul was just as impressive as Madrid and Barca’s.

Ferdinand would’ve won more Champions League titles if he’d joined Barcelona, granted, but in two of Barca’s triumphs, United were the opposition, so Ferdinand wasn’t far away from achieving even more at Old Trafford.

United paid £30m to sign Ferdinand from Leeds back in 2001, and in the 13 years he spent at the club, he was undoubtedly one of the world’s best defenders – hence why Madrid and Barcelona came calling.

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