By Myles Palmer
I heard about Rio Ferdinand on Thursday but did not want to write about it then.
What I heard was this : Arsenal had bid £25 million but Leeds wanted £30 million.
Rio was close to O’Leary and thought O’Leary did a lot for him.
But he hasn’t settled in the North and neither has his girlfriend, who is also a Londoner.
The prospect of playing with Sol and Ashley Cole appeals to him.The Champions League appeals to him as well.
That is what I heard on Thursday.
I figured Leeds don’t want to sell him to Arsenal BUT they would prefer that to Man United, as their fans hate Man Utd.
Rio is a London boy who wants to play for a London club. That’s life and there ain’t a lot Mr Ridsdale can do about that.
On a Believability Scale of one to ten I rated this story about 8.5.
To me, that news explained why Arsenal appeared to have stalled for 3 weeks on the Cygan deal.
It seems both United and Arsenal have bid £25m and Leeds are holding out for £30m and whoever bids £30 will get him. Maybe.
Months ago, agent Pini Zahavi was spending a LOT of time with Sir Alex. They could only have been talking about one thing.
A pal tried to get the story published but top sports editors refused to believe Ferdinand for United.Made sense to my pal, made sense to me – but not to them.
I know Pini and know a lot about him. A very smart guy.
If Rio goes to Man Utd he will hugely enhance the value of Wes Brown, if Wes gets fit and plays regularly.
If Rio comes to Arsenal, he will hugely enhance the value of Sol and Ashley.
In interviews Rio says, “I’ve calmed down a lot because my mates in London used to drag me out. In Leeds they can’t do that.”
But, let’s face it, playing for Arsenal is more serious than playing for West Ham.
Rio would realise that after spending a week with Arsene and seeing that Shenley is a serious workplace for serious pros and serious winners.
I never thought Martin O’Neill would go to Leeds because he has never broken a contract yet. And I believe his Celtic share options mature at the end of NEXT season, so he makes big money then.
A big factor.Haven’t seen anything in the papers about O’Neill’s share options but it MUST have been in some papers, surely?
Myself, I have always thought O’Neill will leave Celtic for Man United when the time is right.
In my worldview,Celtic is a very important football club. It’s not to most English people, but it is to me because I lived in Edinburgh as a boy and my Mum and brothers were born up there.
So I’m not surprised that Martin O’Neill wants to manage Celtic rather than Leeds.
Saturday morning 6th July 2002.
PS
Rio and Ashley are in Las Vegas. On holiday together.