Rio Ferdinand volunteered for Arsenal in 2014 before making the move to Queens Park Rangers. The Manchester United club legend has revealed this in his YouTube series. Then manager Arsene Wenger did not dare and refused to work with Ferdinand, who then decided to end his career with Queens Park Rangers. “In retrospect, he was right, because my performance at QPR was not of my level.”
Ferdinand wore the United shirt for twelve years and with the club from Manchester, he won the Premier League six times and the Champions League once. He also ended Arsenal’s unprecedented 49-game streak without defeat in 2004 with United. “The craziest thing is that I’ve been thinking about going to Arsenal,” Ferdinand revealed on his YouTube channel. “At the end of my career, when I left Man United, I saw Arsene Wenger walking in a hotel.”
The rock-hard defender thought nothing of it and approached the then manager to sell himself. “I said: ‘Arsene, listen, I’m leaving United and if you want I’m willing to play an important role in the dressing room with you because I think you could use some help in that area,'” Ferdinand continued. . “Of course I want to play, but I would also come to guard the culture. He didn’t take the offer and he was right afterwards because my performance at Queens Park Rangers was not of my level. But in the dressing room I believe that I could have helped him, because that’s where a lot of the culture comes from.”
In the summer of 2014, after a 12-year tenure at United, Ferdinand decided to help the newly promoted QPR, only to be told a few months later, in October, that his expiring contract would not be renewed. He made only 12 appearances in his last season as a professional footballer and decided to end his career at the end of May 2015. In addition to employment with United, QPR, West Ham United, Bournemouth and Leeds United, he also wore the shirt of the English national team 81 times.