Jude Bellingham celebrating after scoring for Real Madrid. | Photo Courtesy.
Former Manchester United and England legendary defender Rio Ferdinand has made headlines again after naming 12 players he considers to be world-class as he snubs Arsenal’s ‘Starboy’ Bukayo Saka. According to Rio, Saka has not reached that level claiming Manchester City’s Phil Foden is better than him. Ferdinand’s opinion angered many Arsenal fans labelling his statement as ‘personal’ and based on feelings.
Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden during England national team training. | Photo Courtesy.
The 12-man Rio Ferdinand’s list did not include a single player from his former club of Manchester United making it even more controversial. During this week’s Champions League action, Ferdinand was asked by TNT Sports to come up with his list of World-Class players where he settled on a group of a dozen elite footballers.
In his list, Rio Ferdinand named 5 players from last season’s treble winners Manchester City where he included Ederson, Kyle Walker, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland. Liverpool’s trio of Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk and ‘Egyptian King’ Mohamed Salah also made it to Rio’s list.
England and Tottenham Hotspur’s all-time top scorer Harry Kane who currently plays for Bundesliga side Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe as well as Real Madrid’s pair Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Jr completed the 12-man list of world-class players by Rio Ferdinand.
Jude Bellingham celebrating after scoring for Real Madrid. | Photo Courtesy.
However, Jude Bellingham’s inclusion and omission of Bukayo Saka’s in the 12-man list was questioned by his fellow pundit Martin Keown, “Well, I think Bellingham is one that I would question,” the ex-Arsenal man said. “Of course, he’s in amazing form right now with Real Madrid. But we look at Saka – he’s been the England player of the year for the last two years and Bellingham’s did not get a look in on that and he’s still on Rio’s list so, I don’t know, maybe Rio’s being a bit mischievous with Arsenal fans.”
Rio went to respond to Keown’s remarks saying, “They’ve actually got that list a little bit wrong, because Bellingham was on the list just below that on his own, edging into there,” Ferdinand explained.
“I think the thing that lets him not be on that list, for me right now, is just time. He will be there, he’s in world-class form. You just need that time and that’s where I see Saka.Saka’s got that world-class potential; he just hasn’t been exposed to the knockout stages of the Champions League the longevity is the difference. If you look at that list, you can see they’ve played in the top, most prestigious games and they’ve produced in those moments. And they’ve all done ridiculous things over a long period of time.”
