“Don’t like that”: Rio Ferdinand voices serious concern about United star’s deadline-day exit

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has expressed a major concern regarding Jadon Sancho’s loan exit to Aston Villa.

Sancho joins Villa

Sancho sealed a deadline-day loan move to Villa after weeks of speculation over his club future.

He was available for transfer throughout the summer transfer window since Chelsea’s decision to opt out of their loan obligation to sign him permanently, after he spent the 2024/25 campaign at Stamford Bridge.

AS Roma lodged a bid for Sancho, which United were prepared to accept. However, the player turned down the terms that were put on the table by the Serie A giants.

Besiktas had also expressed an interest in a swoop for the England international but he made it clear that he was not keen on a switch to the Turkish Super Lig.

Villa will cover 80% of Sancho’s wages but there are clauses that could see the Birmingham outfit pay up the entirety of his salary.

The downside, however, is that Villa are under no obligation to sign Sancho on a permanent basis. Ferdinand was taken aback that United did not insert a provision guaranteeing a full exit for Sancho.

Ferdinand remarks on Sancho

Speaking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel, the six-time Premier League winner asked, “Ain’t Sancho’s got an obligation to buy at the end of it?”

“No? Oh, don’t like that.”

He continued, “I said this ages ago, if you’re going to take massive losses on these players, take them. Just to get out. I don’t think you can think about the financials too much if you’re going to have them around the place and let them be a bad smell around the place. No, get rid. I don’t care.”

“The squad is the most important thing. Keeping the harmony and ambience in the squad is the be-all and end-all if you’re going to make strides to be a more positive football club, where you aren’t going to have those distractions around.”

“The last thing anyone needs is Garnacho, Rashford, Sancho, Antony, etc. being around the place and having to train separately. There’s always going to be an undercurrent of a negative story hanging around the place, if they stayed.”

“So I think it’s good for everybody that they’ve got out.”

Sancho revealed that Unai Emery played a big role in his decision to join Villa. The 25-year-old stressed that he is looking forward to enter the peak years of his career while contracted to Villa.

Featured image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images

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