Rio: Tel is great news for Leeds

13 April 2012

Rio Ferdinand today hailed the appointment of Terry Venables as the new Leeds manager as "great news for the club". But the England international was still circumspect over what his exact future would be as Manchester United continued to be confident of making him the world's most expensive defender.

Ferdinand's agent Pini Zahavi met Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale earlier this week to discuss the 23-year-old's future at Elland Road after his stunning World Cup displays for England catapulted his value.

The former West Ham player is still holidaying in Las Vegas and not due to return until next week, but he revealed how it was Venables who gave him his first chance as an international player.

As a starry-eyed 17-year-old Ferdinand was invited to train with the England squad by Venables during Euro 96.

He said: "Terry Venables was brilliant to me and I learned quickly about his manmanagement skills. I was far too young and inexperienced to be in the full squad but to get the chance to train with England during that tournament was fantastic for me.

"I was asked to go along before the games against Scotland and Holland and took part in all the training sessions. It was amazing to be involved with the likes of Ian Wright, Paul Ince and Gazza. It gave me a taste of what it meant to be an England player. You would see Terry coming along the corridor and he would just stop and have a word saying 'well played today, son, keep it going' or something like that.

"He was always encouraging you and making you feel you were one of the lads. You walked away from conversations with him feeling fantastic and that you could do anything. I must have been a lucky omen for them as well because they won both those games when I trained."

Ferdinand has not yet spoken to Venables about his plans for Leeds. It looks certain that the new boss, who will be officially unveiled this afternoon at Elland Road, will sacrifice Lee Bowyer, Olivier Dacourt and possibly Robbie Keane in order to clear debts demanded by the plc without having to sell Ferdinand.

Venables arrived in Leeds yesterday afternoon and went straight into a meeting with firstteam coaches Eddie Gray, Brian Kidd and Ian Broomfield to discuss his plans for the club and the playing staff. He was due to meet the players this morning.

Bowyer is expected to go to Liverpool for £8 million, Dacourt to Juventus for £15 million and Sunderland have made a £10 million-plus bid for Keane.

Ferdinand, speaking in The Sun, said: "I haven't spoken to Mr Venables since he became manager but I'm looking forward to hearing his plans for the club. All the other names mentioned for the job were quality coaches but I think he would have been a lot of people's choice.

"My agent Pini Zahavi has a good relationship with Mr Venables and he has always spoken very highly of him. However I was surprised to read that the players were calling the shots on who should be the manager.

"I don't think the plc board would have taken to kindly to that and I certainly didn't have a say."

Ferdinand's meeting with Venables will be a key to Leeds' future.

He said: "My position has never changed in all this. People have said a deal is done to sell me but it hasn't as far as I know. I spoke to the chairman before I went to Las Vegas on the first part of my holiday and we agreed to talk when I get back to training.

"I won't go into details about what was said but I am still a Leeds player and I haven't asked for a transfer.

"Winning trophies is very important to me. I've never won anything in my life and I'm not afraid to say I'm getting impatient. I may be only 23 but I feel like time is moving on. It's a relatively short career and when you finish you want to look back on what you've achieved.

"With Mr Venables in charge I'm sure Leeds can look forward to an exciting future."

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