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Rio Ferdinand believes that Manchester United should have signed both Harry Kane and Declan Rice. The Premier League giants have been struggling to get things right since Sir Alex Ferguson called time on his managerial career at the end of the 2012/13 campaign.
The fiery Scot retired having guided United to multiple trophies, including 13 Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies. Unfortunately, the Red Devils have won neither since his departure.
United’s search for Sir Alex’s successor has seen them go from David Moyes to Louis van Gaal and then Jose Mourinho without much success.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick, and Erik ten Hag have all failed to get the club back to their heyday, while Amorim has endured a shaky start to life at Old Trafford.
United missed a trick by not moving for Harry Kane
The English giants have also invested in a plethora of players since Sir Alex’s departure, but only a few, like Bruno Fernandes, have proven their worth in gold. However, Ferdinand reckons Kane and Rice could have propelled his former club back to their glory days.
Discussing the matter with Michael Owen on Rio Ferdinand Meets podcast, the former defender said that not signing the former Tottenham Hotspur striker was United’s biggest mistake in the last decade.
“That’s the biggest mistake I think they’ve made in the last 10 years. I think if they go and pay the number that Spurs want, they would have got him [Harry Kane],” said Ferdinand.
“And if we’re to believe that, then I think if it didn’t happen because of a couple million here or there, I think it was a terrible decision.”
Kane, who scored 280 goals from 435 games for Spurs, was briefly linked with the Red Devils in the summer of 2023. However, he ended up joining Bayern Munich, while United signed Rasmus Hojlund that year.
Kane and Rice would have improved the culture at Old Trafford
Ferdinand also believes that United would have been in a far better position had they signed Rice and Kane.
“I honestly think, I’ll say this and I’m convinced, if United had gone and got Declan Rice and Harry Kane in that window, Man United are in a different place now. Because it goes back to the environment, those two drive an environment I think,” said Kane.
One wonders if United would have been better advised to move for Rice instead of Casemiro in the summer of 2022. The Englishman joined Arsenal the following year and has been a hit at the Emirates.
United, meanwhile, are still searching for the right midfielder, and were linked with Carlos Baleba, Angelo Stiller, and Adam Wharton this summer. While none of those deals materialized, the English giants could return for the German midfielder in 2026.
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