“Why are you going United” - Rio Ferdinand reacts to Manchester United being linked with transfer to sign Barcelona star
Rio Ferdinand has questioned why centre-back Ronald Araujo would leave Barcelona for Manchester United. He reckons the defender would look at how manager Erik ten Hag has treated Raphael Varane and reject a move.
On his Vibe With Five podcast, Ferdinand said that Ten Hag has not done right with Varane and added that he would not advice any centre-back to join Manchester United.
Ferdinand pointed at Luke Shaw and Jonny Evans playing ahead of the Frenchman and said:
"If I'm a player like (Araujo) who, I think, has every attribute to be one of the best defenders in the world, why are you going United? I'd be looking at Varane and going, bruv, if he can go United and get benched for a left-back, for an old vet Jonny Evans, an old ex-player who's come back for his twilight years, and then someone who used to be captain who was left out for 18 months, who's back in form now and playing, I can't go there and risk my life and risk my career."
Manchester United are open to selling Varane, as per The Guardian. Ten Hag is looking for a replacement and was linked to Araujo by SPORT.
Bayern Munich interested in signing Manchester United target Ronald Araujo from Barcelona
Bayern Munich are interested in signing Ronald Araujo from Barcelona as per BILD, who say that the Uruguayan star is on top of the Bundesliga side's transfer list.
Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund hinted that they were interested in the Uruguayan star, telling Sport1:
"I don't want to make a statement. The transfer phase is looming. In principle, there are some discussions, but I don't want to say anything about that in detail."
Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel was also quizzed about the Manchester United target, but he refused to comment. He was quoted by BILD as saying:
"I won't comment on that in any direction. We only talk about our players - I also spoke to my mother on the phone, and there were no reports of it."
Barcelona are not interested in selling the Bayern Munich target. Araujo has a contract till 2026 – a deal he signed in April 2022 - and has a €1 billion release clause.