Rio Ferdinand tells Barcelona star Ronald Araujo not to join Man Utd in January

McTominay insists Man Utd squad remain fully behind Ten Hag

Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand has urged Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo not to make the switch to Old Trafford in January. The Uruguayan has been linked with a move to the Red Devils following their crisis at the back and the club could use next month’s transfer window in order to solidify Erik ten Hag’s backline.

Lisandro Martinez has been out with a long-term ankle injury while Raphael Varane has fallen out of favour with the Dutch boss. This has led to Harry Maguire being partnered with Luke Shaw in recent games, prompting the suggestion that a new centre-half is needed in January.

Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo claim that United are interested in Araujo to help solve their defensive issues and are willing to double his £125,000-a-week wages. He has also been mentioned with a move to Bayern Munich and could be available for £85million, but Ferdinand has warned the 24-year-old off moving to Old Trafford.

“If I’m a player like Ronald who I think has every attribute to be one of the best defenders in the world, why are you going United?’” Ferdinand told his Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE YouTube channel.

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“I’d be looking at Varane and going if he can go to Manchester United and get benched for a left-back, or for an old veteran like Jonny Evans an ex-player who has come back for his twilight years and someone who used to be captain who was left out for 18 months but is back in form now and is playing, I can’t go there and risk my life and risk my career.”

Ferdinand pointed to United’s poor recruitment history, having only made a profit on one player signed by the club since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Several of Ten Hag’s summer signings have failed to make the desired impact in their first few months at Old Trafford and Ferdinand insisted that Araujo could be the latest in a long list of underwhelming transfers through no fault of his own.

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“If you look at it what player has gone to Manchester United and got better. Varane has got worse, Casemiro has gone backwards now in their value and worth. You’d get good money for Bruno (Fernandes) still, he’s the only one,” Ferdinand added.

“(Aaron) Wan-Bissaka you aren’t getting £50million now, they aren’t getting what they paid for (Diogo) Dalot, I’m sure. Amad Diallo the Ivory Coast boy. I could go through them all.

“I don’t know who comes in? Would you get the same money for (Rasmus) Hojlund now? No! (Jadon) Sancho? I could keep going if you want. (Donny) Van de Beek?”

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