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'White knight' Ferdinand brought in to rescue Manchester UnitedPosted: Wednesday August 07, 2002 12:21 PMLONDON (AP) -- Dressed in a cream-colored suit when he was unveiled as the world's most expensive defender, Rio Ferdinand is the "white knight" who's expected to save Manchester United. United gave up 45 goals last season in the Premier League, and defense was the reason it failed to win a trophy and finished third behind Arsenal and Liverpool. This was an abysmal failure for a team that had won seven of nine league titles and the European Champions Cup in 1999. The 23-year-old Ferdinand is expected to change that and has been called potentially "the best centerback in the world" by Man United manage Alex Ferguson. He'd better be. Manchester United bought Ferdinand last month from English rival Leeds for a world-record fee for a defender of 29.3 million pounds (US$45.4 million). And the price could reach 33.3 million (US$51.6 million) depending on incentives. Ferdinand will earn twice what he did at Leeds -- his salary has jumped to 70,000 pounds (US$108,000) weekly -- over a five-year contract. The deal is reported to have put Man United into debt to finance the acquisition. Manager Alex Ferguson took some of the blame as Manchester United was outclassed last season by Arsenal, and in the Champions League by nine-time winners Real Madrid. Ferguson's abrupt sale a year ago of defender Jaap Stam after the Dutchman wrote unflattering things about the club was widely cited as the reason for the porous defense. At Man United, Ferdinand is likely to team at centerback with Frenchman Laurent Blanc and join a team studded with stars like David Beckham, Argentine Juan Sebastian Veron, Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ireland's Roy Keane. Though he may be out of a starting job because of Ferdinand's arrival, Man United centerback Wes Brown -- a close friend of Ferdinand -- believes he's the world's best. "Rio is the best centerhalf in the world, and he'll get even better," Brown said. "He's a great buy and I'm sure this season he'll prove to everyone why we bought him." "People say it's a lot of money, but he's only 23 and has got many years in him. "He's strong, fast, good in the air and a good reader of the game. He's a huge signing for us and pretty much the defender you dream about having." "He's proved to everyone over the years how much of a great player he is. "He topped that off with the World Cup where he put in a magnificent performance throughout the tournament." Man United dished out 47 million pounds (US$73 million) a year ago for Van Nistelrooy and Veron and didn't win a thing. So Ferguson knows the perils of big spending and inflated expectations. "The key to this is potential," Ferguson said. "We're very confident that, at 23, he [Ferdinand] will go on and mature here and develop into the best centerback in the world." Man United scouts spotted Ferdinand as a 17-year-old playing at Bournemouth, but were thwarted in attempts to buy him from West Ham, which owned him and had him playing on loan. In a coincidence, Ferdinand's first match for Man United came July 27 at Bournemouth in a testimonial game for Mel Machin, who managed Ferdinand when he was a struggling 17-year-old at Bournemouth. "We gave him the full hardship of being a player at our level -- which means taking your own kit home every night and washing it," Machin said. "But you could see the character then in the player, and we put him straight into the team, gave him the competitive football he yearned for." Ferdinand has many admirers. During the World Cup this summer he was widely billed in England as the side's top player. If there's criticism, it's that he's prone to mistakes despite exceptional ball skills and imposing stature. And, justified or not, it was England teammate and central defender Sol Campbell of Arsenal who was voted to the World Cup all-star team -- not Ferdinand. Given the record size of the transfer, Ferdinand will be under microscopic scrutiny in the English press. He's likely to be compared to Arsenal's new Brazilian World Cup midfielder Gilberto Silva, who moved to the English club last month for 4.5 million pounds (US$7.1 million) -- about one-sixth of Ferdinand's fee. Silva started every World Cup match for the champions. The transfer from Leeds was difficult, driven by the fact that Leeds had debts of 77 million pounds (US$120 million). Ferdinand's team loyalty was immediately questioned after rapid-fire moves from West Ham and then from Leeds. "It wasn't an easy decision," he said. "I spoke to my family and friends about loyalty and things like that. They just advised me to go where my heart was. This is a short career and opportunities like this don't come around very often." "I didn't want to be sitting around at the end of my career thinking: 'I could have done this and I could have done that." "The size of the [transfer] fee will not matter at all. I was in a similar position when I left West Ham to go to Leeds and I didn't really think about the price tag. This will probably be the only time I will talk about it."
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