Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has shared his disbelief at the club’s failure to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi in the summer.
Midfield rebuild
During the summer window, United focused most of their attention on strengthening the midfield after finishing third in the Premier League and securing Champions League football.
Casemiro’s departure made it clear that United needed to make more than one midfield signing. The Red Devils brought in Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba from Chelsea, Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively.
Goalkeeper Karl Darlow was the other arrival, joining the club on a free transfer following the expiry of his Leeds United contract.
While Santos, Tielemans and Baleba have shown glimpses of their potential as they adapt to life at Old Trafford, their performances have been far from flawless.
They have, of course, not been helped by United’s dreadful start to the season, which currently sees them languishing in the bottom half of the table, having gained just seven points from as many games.
Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Ferdinand admitted that he was “gutted” United missed out on Bouaddi.
United were linked to the youngster following a stellar season with Lille and his impressive displays at the World Cup, but Manchester City beat them to his signature.
Honest Bouaddi admission
Ferdinand said, “Did you see when Ayyoub Bouaddi came on? This is why I was talking about him over the last year and during the summer transfer window.”
“He came on and showed PSG that they may have missed out on someone who was on their doorstep when he was playing in France.”
“He turned 19 this month, right? His transfer fee is the same as [Andrey] Santos and [Youri] Tielemans combined. Manchester United were in for him, 100%, but the fee was just too much.”
The six-time Premier League winner added, “Just that little cameo against PSG makes you go, ‘Oh, I can’t believe we missed out on that. I can’t believe it.’ I’m so gutted, so gutted. He’s bad! He’s so calm under pressure.”
“Man City have got that many games that then can share the load about. Because of his age you can just dip him in and out but sooner rather than later that’s not going to fly with him because he’s an incredible footballer. They’ve got Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez is that midfield as well but this kid could be the best of the three, easily.”
Meanwhile, United return to action on Wednesday when they face Como in the Champions League.
Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images
