Rio Ferdinand feelings clear as Jim Ratcliffe forced to abandon Man Utd project

Daily Mirror

9 hours ago

Manchester United finished 15th in the Premier League this season, and Rio Ferdinand has explained where the Red Devils should realistically look to finish in 2025/26
Rio Ferdinand has said that Manchester United should look to finish in the top six to eight of the Premier League next season. The Red Devils will be eager to quickly forget 2024/25, given they finished a dismal 15th in the league and failed to achieve silverware both domestically and in Europe.
And while many managers may have had their future thrown into question given the lacklustre campaign, Ruben Amorim - who was only appointed in November following the sacking of Erik ten Hag - has seemingly been given the benefit of the doubt by the board.
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The Portuguese tactician was forced to work with a mismatched squad that he inherited when he entered Old Trafford. And, following Ten Hag's spending spree on the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Light inlast summer, limited funds were available in January for Amorim to start his own rebuilding project.
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There were also fears of failing PSR regulations if they continued to spend frivolously. As a result, Amorim was only able to bring in Patrick Dorgu from Lecce for £25.1million, as well as Arsenal youngster Ayden Heaven in a deal thought to be around the £1m mark.
However, it appears as though Amorim will be backed by the board this summer to recruit suitable players for his system, with United already splurging £62.5m on Matheus Cunha from Wolves in the early transfer window.
And while there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of bringing in fresh faces, club legend Ferdinand has given his take on where United should finish next season should Amorim get the players he yearns for. Speaking exclusively to Mirror Football, the 46-year-old said: "I think if you finish 15th this year, United have got to be looking to finish in at least the top eight, top six.
"I don't think you should be looking outside of that. And that's from someone who only thought about winning the league at United. So it's a big come-down in that sense."
Ferdinand also agreed that Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Project 150 plans were a little far-fetched at present. The INEOS chair and Red Devils minority shareholder had initially planned to see his club win the league by 2028 in line with its 150th anniversary, but the stark reality is that Amorim may need more time than that to work his magic and slowly but surely build United back to the Premier League giants they were under Sir Alex Ferguson.
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While an insider told the Mirror back in March that Amorim "felt he could get more from the current squad when he came in," they added: "There's no getting away from the fact that overall it's been a really tough watch - and that it's going to take a lot of time and patience to get the team to where they should be. You've got to be brave or foolish to think winning the league by 2028 is doable from where United currently are."
This, coupled with continually growing rivals in terms of talent, may force Ratcliffe to abandon his ambitious Project 150 plans altogether as United plan for a less turbulent future. It comes as Ferdinand recently launched his Career Transfer Hub with Talking Futures, with hopes of bridging the gap between teenagers and parents for planning their own futures.
Speaking about the initiative, he said: "I think it's about empowering kind of families to talk more about education, especially parents. I think we're comfortable talking about a lot of things, i.e. football, a lot of the time in and around the front room or across the table with your kids, but getting that kind of common ground when you're talking about education, sometimes it's quite difficult, even I've found it difficult at times.
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"So something like this is definitely a good way in and a good avenue in to kind of having those conversations about what's next in your life, education wise, where do you see yourself going? What paths are you looking at?
"And this is a great, I think, avenue for parents to really kind of touch the paper and go, right, listen, here we go, and start walking their kids down the right path, giving them a little bit of autonomy over it, but also guide them a little bit at the same time. So I wish I'd had this when I was younger - although I had football, which I was quite fortunate with."
Rio Ferdinand has partnered with Talking Futures to launch the Career Transfer Hub – giving parents access to information on their child's education options just like football agents have transfer insiders, negotiation teams and career scouts. You can find out more here.
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