Steven Bisig – USA TODAY Sports
Manchester United are going under the biggest change at the club in years, as Sir Alex Ferguson retires and passes the job onto David Moyes. But, it must not be forgotten that there are various players whose futures at the club is still not clear-cut.
Rio Ferdinand‘s contract expires this summer, having spent over a decade at the club since signing from Leeds United in 2002. Ferguson has stated over the course of the season that Ferdinand would likely renew his deal with the club before the end of the season.
Well, that time is rapidly approaching and Ferguson’s exact words were “it would have to happen before the end of the season”. There has been little news on the situation since from any of the key figures involved, so it is an issue that is perhaps been ignored a little with the managerial changes amongst other rumours, but is still an intriguing matter.
Maybe the situation is that the club is simply not ready to negotiate contracts until the season has finished, but having said that, Ryan Giggs had already previously extend his stay at the club a further year.
More so, the expected arrival of Moyes this summer adds another factor into the situation. However, you would expect that Moyes would be inclined to get Ferdinand’s contract renewed as a minimal transition from such a historic era at the club seems like a suitable idea.
Ferdinand is now 34, but age has never been too much of an issue at Old Trafford, providing that the player still has a contribution to give to the side. Will the philosophy and systems that Ferguson has installed over the years remain, in this case on contracts? Ferguson has commonly given players over 30 one-year contracts at a time with lucrative deals. One would expect this shall remain given the fact that Ferguson is remaining as a director and that the club is a far more structured and organised outfit than some others.
Injury problems have been an issue for Ferdinand in recent years, most notably with his career in England, but he has just enjoyed one his most impressive seasons in recent years, making the PFA Team Of The Year.
Some are insinuating that perhaps Ferdinand may be considering retirement but judging by his twitter feed, it suggests otherwise:
Do not mention the word retirement on my timeline please people…..that word is not welcome here!
Ferdinand signed up as an interviewer for BT Sport’s new TV channel on Thursday but it’s not expected to be anything that will disrupt the future of his football career.
Stowe Gregory is an English featured Soccer and Sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him or tweet on Twitter @stowegregory. Or add to circles on Google
