Rio Ferdinand became the most expensive defender in the world when he joined Leeds United from West Ham in 2020.
Leeds also paid a British record transfer fee of £18 million in what was an era where the Whites were regularly splashing the cash on some of the Premier League’s top players.
Ferdinand spent less than two years at Elland Road as he joined bitter rivals Manchester United to again become the most expensive British footballer in history, as well as the world’s most expensive defender for a second time.
His departure was around the period where Leeds’ financial issues really began to start, with the former England international recently admitting he was baffled by some of the contracts being handed out at the time.
That said, Ferdinand certainly enjoyed a good couple of seasons in West Yorkshire, including the one in which Leeds made the Champions League semi-finals, before then becoming club captain.
Ferdinand now shares the real reason why he joined Leeds over Chelsea
As mentioned, Leeds were, at the time, one of the Premier League’s top clubs and so were competing with some big sides for these sort of signings.
And on the latest episode of the Stick to Football Podcast, Ferdinand has now revealed he could’ve gone to Chelsea ahead of Leeds when leaving West Ham.
Ferdinand was discussing the current situation of Marcus Rashford at Man United, where he claimed moving away from Manchester could be what he needs to get his career back on track after a difficult season.
The 45-year-old believes he was in a similar situation to what Rashford is in now at West Ham, and says while he actually would’ve preferred to join Chelsea, he moved to Leeds in order to get away from the external noise.
He said: “When I left [for] Leeds I could have gone to Chelsea and it’s probably a club I would have preferred to go to at the time, but the reason I left to go to Leeds was because it was out of London and the external people around me I needed to get away from.”
Ferdinand recalls ‘mad story’ of when he was at Leeds
As mentioned, Ferdinand ended up leaving Leeds less than two years after his arrival, joining Man United at the beginning of the club’s crippling financial issues.
But based on a recent story Ferdinand told, it is no surprise that Leeds went into financial turmoil very soon after he actually joined.
Reflecting on the trouble Leeds found themselves in at the time, Ferdinand shared on an episode of his Vibe with Five Podcast how some of the contract offers Leeds were making left him baffled.
He said: “There was some crazy contracts going on at that time. I was like what is going on here? How are you giving me that type of money? Seth Johnson is a mad story, he was expecting £12 grand a week and ended up getting 40’s or something.”
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