Rio Ferdinand shares why he turned down Chelsea when he left Leeds United
Rio Ferdinand has revealed that he turned down Chelsea in favour of joining Manchester United when he left Leeds United in 2002.
Ferdinand joined the Whites in 2000 in a world-record deal for a defender at the time and helped the club reach the Champions League semi-finals before joining bitter rivals Manchester United in 2002.
But while appearing on the Stick to Football podcast (4 April), Ferdinand has revealed he almost didn’t move to Old Trafford at all as Chelsea were an option but he ultimately rejected them as he wanted to move away from London.
“Even when I left Leeds, it’s different, but I left Leeds and I could have gone to Chelsea,” he said.
“It’s probably a club that I probably would have preferred to go to at the time, but the reason I left to go to Leeds in the first place was because it was out of London and the external people around me I had to get away from.”
“I remember when I signed for Leeds they were talking about wages and stuff, and I said I just want to talk to the manager. I said, ‘coach me. Teach me how to defend, David O’Leary.’ And to be fair, he was true to his word.
“Him and Eddie Gray drilled me constantly on the training pitch. And obviously going from West Ham to Leeds with Champions League football, the stakes are higher. You take it a bit more seriously, your defensive responsibilities. You start looking at the game different and that was part of the development.”
Ferdinand cut his Elland Road ties when he put on a red shirt
Ferdinand during his time at Elland Road was fantastic and absolutely nobody can deny that, regardless of how they feel about him.
But it’s been clear that he left the club for his own personal reasons and he never really cared about Leeds, which is why fans have never really cared for him since.
Joining Manchester United essentially severed his ties here because of that fierce rivalry between the two teams, and he’s never spoken particularly well about the club since he left either.
It’s about time he gave O’Leary the credit he deserves for making him the player he became, and rejecting Chelsea to go there doesn’t make him any better.
Ultimately we got good years out of him and the money we got from selling him saved the club, but hopefully we don’t have to hear him talk about Leeds much more in the future.
In other Leeds news, rarely-seen starlet to start ahead of 32-app ace in predicted XI v Coventry.
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