Rio Ferdinand has admitted he was expecting a ‘frosty’ reception when he rocked up to Carrington following his interview with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Manchester United legend spoke to his ex-teammate, who had a public falling out with boss Erik ten Hag, which led to his Old Trafford departure in 2022.
In Ronaldo’s second stint at the Theatre of Dreams, he blasted the Dutchman in a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan, while also stressing he does not respect him.
And in a recent sit down with Ferdinand, the 39-year-old said that United must ‘rebuild everything’ if they wish to become a dominant force once again.
His comments led to Ten Hag biting back at the five-time Ballon d’Or winner after Ronaldo insisted his former employers cannot win the Premier League.
Ferdinand has now revealed that on the day his interview with Ronaldo was released, he was at United’s training ground to speak with Ten Hag.
Fearing a hostile reaction was in order, the England icon stressed that both Ten Hag and United welcomed him with open arms.
Speaking on his YouTube channel about his visit to Carrington, he said: “It made it a bit sticky if I’m being honest with you!
“The interview with Cristiano dropped on the Thursday at eight or nine o’clock that morning, I was in the training ground at ten o’clock.
“So I got there, and it was absolutely fine.”
Jermaine Pennant then joked it must have been ‘frosty’, while co-host Joel Beya questioned whether United chiefs had seen the interview.
To which Ferdinand stated: “Had they seen it? Everyone had seen it!
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“The interview dropped, and I was thinking, ‘This could be a bit frosty this morning, I’ve got to see Ten Hag, I’ve got to see the players.’
“So I’ve walked in, it was absolutely fine. We see all this craziness that goes on in the media and it’s all built up.
“But when you get into the heart of a club, there’s bigger fish to fry, it’s just a comment from one of the players.
“Cristiano is a huge player and a huge voice obviously, but the manager is thinking about what he is doing on the training pitch, he’s got sessions to put on, he’s got results to get, performances to get.
“So he was absolutely fine, and I liked what I saw when I walked in there, the atmosphere and the environment felt as clean and as pure as I’ve seen it in a while.”
Despite Ronaldo’s second spell at United ending on a sour note, the Portuguese forward stressed he will always the love the club.
And he also failed to hold in his laughter as he reminisced on the nicknames he had for his ex-United teammates during his first stint.
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