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MANCHESTER UNITED legend Rio Ferdinand has revealed that two of his transfer recommendations were duly ignored by Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Premier League Hall of Fame defender pleaded for the Red Devils to sign Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe.
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Ferdinand had the chance to see Lennon in action before many others, given the winger was part of Leeds United’s academy at the time when Rio was starring in the first team at Elland Road.
The pair also spent plenty of time alongside each other within the England set-up, both making the 2006 and 2010 World Cup squads, though Ferdinand missed the latter through injury.
But despite his efforts to persuade United to nab Lennon, boss Ferguson simply ignored his requests.
Speaking on his Vibe with Five podcast Ferdinand said: “”Like Fergie, I’ve said to him, ‘from what I’ve seen in training, if he can replicate it in games, we need to get this guy’.”
“But Fergie just never moved on it. We had so many players.”
Soon after, it was revealed that the ex-England ace also recommended a move for Defoe.
The 44-year-old added: “The one player I always used to say to Ferguson if you want to buy someone from our England team it should be Defoe.”
But the Scotsman never did follow Ferdinand’s tip with either Lennon or Defoe.
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Lennon eventually left Leeds in 2005 and joined Tottenham for a fee of £1m.
The winger spent the bulk of his career at White Hart Lane, scoring 30 goals and providing 79 assists in 364 appearances for Spurs.
He then joined Everton for three-and-half seasons, before joining Burnley on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
Meanwhile, striker Defoe played for a host of Premier League sides, including West Ham, Spurs, Portsmouth, Sunderland and Bournemouth.
United had paid £30 million to sign Ferdinand in 2002, which broke the British transfer record at the time.
The most successful British manager knew his way around the transfer market and rarely miscalculated.
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