Rio Ferdinand says Manchester United should never have sold Jonny Evans and claims he was the ‘best defender’ at the club when he left.
Evans spent almost a decade at United during his first spell at the club, making 198 appearances and helping the Red Devils win three Premier League titles.
The Northern Ireland international fell out of favour under ex-Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal and was sold to West Brom for just £8m in 2015.
Centre-back has been a problematic position for United in the intervening period, leading the club to re-sign Evans at the age of 35 in the summer of 2023.
Evans enjoyed a five-year spell at Leicester City before returning to the Theatre of Dreams and making 30 appearances in all competitions last season.
The veteran has featured regularly this term, too, and produced a Man of the Match performance in Sunday’s goalless draw with Aston Villa.
Ferdinand believes this was further proof that Evans should never have been sold and says he was a player the club could have built around rather than offloading for a small fee.
‘He should have had another 12 years at Manchester United,’ Ferdinand said of Evans on his YouTube channel.
‘As soon as they sold him I said, “wow, who’s sanctioned this? How can you let him go?” He’s arguably your best defender there.
‘He was experienced as well, he had more experience than Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. You can’t let him go.
‘He understands the fabric of the club. If you want to keep a culture at a club you need players who understand it and have been there. He’s one of them.
‘They could have built around him. Look at the amount of partnerships they’ve tried to create and the amount of centre-halves they’ve bought since him.’
Ex-Manchester United defender Phil Jones agreed with Ferdinand’s take and said he was ‘not surprised’ to see him excel in the draw with Villa.
‘That didn’t surprise me. He’s a top player,’ said Jones, who hung up his boots in August after a long and frustrating period with injuries.
‘People look at his age but he’s still a top player. Him being Man of the Match wasn’t a surprise to me because I know the qualities he has.
‘He’s comfortable on the ball, he reads the game well, he knows what it takes to play for United, he’s an organiser and a leader.’
The fact Evans looked like Manchester United’s best player against Aston Villa ‘felt wrong’, according to Old Trafford great Paul Scholes.
‘Jonny knows the way of Manchester United, I think you’ve got to give him every credit, he was good today,’ Scholes said on Premier League Productions.
‘There’s just something that feels a little bit wrong about it to me, to have a player who has come back after so long, he just came to train with the team, to keep fit, another year later he’s Manchester United’s best centre-half.
‘That tells you that something isn’t quite right. Man United are 14th in the Premier League, that tells you something is not quite right.
‘But I do agree, I think they were a lot better organised today, they look more difficult to play against, more difficult to break through.’
Dimitar Berbatov went even further than Scholes, claiming the rest of the United squad should be ‘ashamed’ that they were upstaged by a 36-year-old centre-back.
‘I’m trying to find the right words here,’ the ex-United and Tottenham attacker said in Sky Sports studio shortly after the final whistle.
‘Everybody on the pitch today should be ashamed because Jonny Evans, credit to him, he’s 36 years old, and he’s man of the match.
‘Everybody younger than him should take notice and just, I don’t know, next time do better.’
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