Rio Ferdinand explains why he rejected Barcelona after transfer talks

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Rio Ferdinand has revealed he was approached by Barcelona and says he “came close’”to signing for the Catalan giants, but ultimately he did not want to leave Manchester United.

Ferdinand says he was approached by then Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard in the tunnel at full-time after United had knocked Barca out of the Champions League semi-finals at the Camp Nou.

Ferdinand, 41, put in a dominant performance to keep Lionel Messi and Co. at bay and United managed to get into the final with a 1-0 aggregate win. The former Leeds man had already become the most expensive defender in the world when United paid the West Yorkshire side £29.1m for Ferdinand in 2002, but his stock rose again that night.

So much so that the legendary Rijkaard approached the former England centre-back after the game to make it clear he wanted him at Barcelona.

“It came close there were discussions with my agent,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.

“Barcelona had touched base. I’d spoken to Rijkaard not about going there but he kind of made his feelings known. It was after the game in Barcelona we drew 0-0 in the tunnel after the game when I spoke to Rijkaard.

“I always said I wanted to play abroad but the only thing that would stop me was if I was winning and successful on home shores. I was lucky I found a great club at Manchester United it would’ve been almost impossible for me to leave.”

Ferdinand insists he does not regret his decision and says the ‘landscape’ was different in 2008 and he in fact went on to end his career in Manchester with nine titles to his name.

“There was calls for me to go to various clubs. When that was on the table those clubs were in transition and it didn’t make sense to go somewhere it might take two or three years to win things.

“There is an etiquete but you get the gist of what someone is saying I think Frank was a very respectful gentleman. But at the end of the day you know where you’re at after a conversation and then your agent starts to confirm through other channels you understand were you are at at that point.

“But we beat them and went on to become European Champions so why would I leave them to go to another team. At that point Xavi, Iniesta, Messi was just 20 they were just starting to come through. They weren’t the players they were three or four years later. It was a very different landscape at that time but what a club.”

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