Rio Ferdinand ‘Worried’ About Manchester United Star – But Why That Might Not Be a Bad Thing

Rio Ferdinand has every right to be worried about the state of Manchester United after their poor start to the new season.

The former Red Devils defender has, like every other pundit of that persuasion, watched on in frustration at how his old club have been performing as of late.

Last season was a miserable campaign where they finished 15th in the division and things have not improved thus far this term with Ruben Amorim’s side sitting 14th with just four points from a possible 12 so far.

United have only scored four goals in that space of time, too, which is another poor show for their efforts and for Ferdinand that has become a serious issue for the club.

Manchester United splashed out on plenty of new recruits in their attacking areas including Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo and they spent close to £220million in total this summer.

Rio Ferdinand is worried about Benjamin Sesko at Manchester United

The majority of their cash spent was, indeed, on forward players and Sesko cost around £73m when he arrived from RB Leipzig following interest from Newcastle United as rivals for his signature.

For Rio, Sesko’s arrival was an exciting one but the 46-year-old retired central defender believes his teammates are not creating enough for him to seriously trouble their opponents right now.

That, for the club legend, is a worry that under pressure Amorim and his staff will have to address and fix quickly if they are to make sure and avoid the season getting away from them before it has even really begun.

“The one I’m worried about is Sesko,” Ferdinand said on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast. “He ain’t getting no chances man, he ain’t getting no opportunities, there’s nothing created for him.

“That’s the concern. A new striker comes in the football club, gets in the team, you’ve got to think about creating chances for him.

“Getting him on the end of things. He’s got to think about getting on the end of things. That’s something I think has got to be looked at, and fixed quick. I don’t want to think about what it could turn out to be.”

What Ferdinand said about ‘depressing’ Manchester derby

Ferdinand dissected United’s most recent nightmare in the derby and admitted he was disappointed to see where his former club are going right now.

“It’s depressing watching United like that,” he added.

“The way we allowed them to get in and get goals and get opportunities – it was weak, it was powderpuff, it just lacked anything.

“I thought in the first-half, we pressed them quite well, and we had possession at times. (But then we) got in the final third, and there was zero creativity.

“Without Bruno (Fernandes), you’re looking at it going, ‘Who else is going to create something – (Bryan) Mbeumo?’ But there’ s no real guile.”

For Rio there appears to be the issue of where United’s lack of goal scoring is coming from.

But it may not be as big an issue as first thought.

Sesko had a prolific campaign for Leipzig last season and that’s what earned him the head-spinning move to Old Trafford.

However, in his first six competitive outings for his club, the big Slovenian had notched just two goals. Clearly he takes some time to get going and United are yet to see the best of their new hitman.