Ferdinand is raring to go

Rio Ferdinand's desire to prove himself worthy of his record £30million price tag is so intense that he has persuaded Sir Alex Ferguson to hand him his Manchester United debut on Saturday at Bournemouth.

Despite the fact that he has so far put in only two days of training since returning from the World Cup on June 22, Ferdinand has talked manager Ferguson into ditching plans for him to make his bow against Parma in the Amsterdam Tournament a week tomorrow.

While international team-mates David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Wes Brown continue to ease gently back into the rhythm of pre-season and spend the weekend with their feet up, Ferdinand will experience his first competitive football since England's World Cup defeat by Brazil.

He has a great deal of affection for Bournemouth after spending a period on loan there as a teenager while at West Ham United and has a special bond with their director of football Mel Machin, who was coach there during that time.

This has played a part in Ferdinand's decision, but it is also clear he is raring to play competitive football for United as soon as possible in a bid to reach peak fitness as he sets out to answer those critics who questioned the wisdom of moving from Leeds to Old Trafford.

Machin said last night: 'United are flying down on a private plane on Saturday morning and Rio will be on board. He has had only one day's training since his transfer but he will be here.

'Although his name was not on the squad sheet they sent down, I phoned Sir Alex to ask him if he would consider sending Rio here. Rio was in his office at the time and it was all agreed there and then.'

Ferdinand, who may appear only as a substitute, joins the likes of Juan Sebastian Veron, Ryan Giggs, Dwight Yorke and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in Bournemouth, while other big names like Fabien Barthez, Laurent Blanc, Roy Keane, Phil Neville, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Diego Forlan are part of another United squad playing Chesterfield at Saltergate on the same day.