Rio Ferdinand makes bold claim about Man Utd star – he’s the ‘only’ player who can challenge for world’s best tag

Rio Ferdinand has made a bold claim about one Manchester United star who is the ‘only’ player who can challenge for the world’s best tag.

Manchester United have many talented youngsters within the walls at Carrington and there is hope that new head coach Ruben Amorim can help them develop into world class stars.

It will be a challenge to see who can take the necessary steps towards being a world class player as United aim to reach the top of the game once again.

They will be challenging against some elite talent from within the Premier League and the latest defeat against Arsenal was a reminder of some of the class opponents possess.

While their attacking was not exactly on-point, Mikel Arteta’s side were excellent defensively and that was led by William Saliba.

The French defender made it look easy when he was dealing with the likes of Rasmus Højlund or Alejandro Garnacho and Rio Ferdinand believes he will become the best defender in the world.

“I think he’s going to be the best defender in the world. Saliba will be the best defender in the world when Virgil van Dijk gives up that post,” the former United centre-back said on his YouTube channel this week.

“As soon as it happens, it could be a year or it could be three years, whatever it’s going to be I don’t see anybody else taking over.”

Although, Ferdinand did go against that point afterwards as he suggested United defender Leny Yoro could be the ‘only’ player to take that tag instead of Saliba.

“The only person who I think will rival him and it’s going to be close is Leny Yoro,” he added.

Signing Yoro was a significant moment for United in the latest summer transfer window as he looked certain to be moving to Real Madrid.

The teenager is considered one of the best defensive talents in the world and is on United’s books after being convinced of the move – Ferdinand was one of many he spoke to before putting pen to paper on a long-term deal.

After suffering an injury in pre-season, he has finally returned to the team, coming on as a second half substitute against Arsenal. He looked impressive despite the result.

“To be injured and come in, and it wasn’t just coming in and doing quite well,” continued Ferdinand as he touched on Yoro’s performance.

“He got in two situations one-versus-one on his own, edge of the box and on his own. Dealt with it, dealt with them both really well.”

It is a huge claim for the United legend to make, but there was a reason this transfer was celebrated and why the likes of Madrid wanted him in the first place.

With his injury troubles now behind him, Yoro himself will want to start proving himself in the Premier League like Saliba did several years ago. Hopefully he will be in those same conversations as his fellow countryman in due course.

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