Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has issued an on-air apology to Phil Jones, three years after he told the latter to ‘find a new club’.
Ferdinand, who was unaware of the former Blackburn Rovers ace’s injury woes, accused the former Blackburn Rovers ace of blocking a youngster’s path into United’s first team in August 2021.
“I think he (Jones) should’ve gone ages ago,” Ferdinand said on Vibe with FIVE.
“He should’ve gone before Chris Smalling went. Find a new club and play some football.”
Ferdinand was also ‘baffled’ why Jones received a new four-year deal in 2019 given his limited appearances in the lead-up to the contract.
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However, the 45-year-old invited Jones onto the last episode of ‘Rio Ferdinand presents‘ where he expressed his remorse for the comments he made in 2021.
Ferdinand also revealed it was his former teammate and then-United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who reached out to inform him Jones had been ‘injured for a long time’ and was not absent through performance-related issues.
“I have to say I apologise firstly before anything, I said sorry publicly but I’ll say it to your face this time now, for criticising you,” Ferdinand said.
“I criticised him about… he wasn’t playing for a long period of time and I was like ‘he’s got to go out and play’, I knew this kid when he was 18 and came to Man United, he wants to play football, why is he sitting there?
“Is it the Man United badge that he wants on his chest, is he staying for his own ego, just go and play some football [and] get out of the way, let another young kid come through because you’re stifling someone else’s growth maybe.”
Ferdinand concluded: “I was unaware of the situation. I just wanted to say sorry. It was never personal.”
Jones sported a smile and responded: “Apology accepted.”
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The 32-year-old later conceded Ferdinand’s brutal swipe at him in 2023 came when he was feeling particularly low amid his injury issues.
“I was vulnerable because I hadn’t played in so long and I was thinking, ‘Am I ever going to play again,’ and having all these images and thoughts that it might be the end,” Jones said.
Jones’ last appearance in a United shirt came against Brentford on May 2 two years ago as he enjoyed a 15-minute cameo off the bench.
He was released by the Red Devils in July 2023 and retired in March this year.
