RIO FERDINAND has accused Manchester United of “whoring” themselves out in their lengthy bid to sign Frenkie de Jong.
Erik ten Hag made signing his former midfielder one of his top priorities after replacing Ralf Rangnick as manager but has been snubbed by the Barcelona ace throughout the summer.
But the former Ajax boss is refusing to give up on signing his fellow Dutchman, much to the frustration of Red Devils legend Rio Ferdinand.
Ferdinand said on his Vibe with Five podcast: “We’re almost whoring ourselves out for this player.
“For three months in the transfer window, with our cap out begging, ‘please come to us, please come to us’.
De Jong, 25, is determined to stay at Barca to re-coup the wages he missed out on during the height of the pandemic, even though the club had reportedly agreed a £72m fee with United last month.
READ MORE IN SPORT
But Chelsea are also interested in signing the Netherlands international and can offer Champions League football.
They were said to be close to agreeing a deal worth around £67m this week.
Ten Hag’s nightmare start to life at The Theatre of Dreams continued on Saturday as his troops were battered 4-0 by Brentford.
United are currently ROCK BOTTOM of the Premier League table having conceded six goals in their first two matches.
Ferdinand said of the defeat: “I don’t feel sorry for the players, I feel sorry for Ten Hag.
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
Most read in Football
“He’s come in under false pretences. He’s come in expecting new signings.
“He’s probably sitting there thinking, ‘I’ve been sold a dummy here. I didn’t know I was coming into this’. Confidence, I know, was going to be low.
“He knew that but he thought ‘I’ll be able to rebuild that’, but obviously the players are not at the standard required. Simple as that.
‘Some of the players will sit there and go ‘that’s out of order, you can’t talk’, – it’s a fact! The results tell you that.
“This isn’t a result over a month or two, this is a result over a long sustained amount of time.
Read More on The Sun
“You’ve had ample time to kind of lose form and build it back up again and come back and show us your true selves. It ain’t happening.”
United will look to get back to winning ways a week on Monday when they welcome title-chasing Liverpool to Old Trafford.
But they won’t have their feet up until then – with Ten Hag ordering his flops in for extra training on their day off.
SUN BINGO GET £50 BONUS & 50 FREE SPINS TODAY
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
