La Liga may be world's best league, concedes Rio Ferdinand
Thursday, August 27, 2009 @ 5:55 PM
With Spain increasingly the destination of choice for the world's top players, Rio Ferdinand has conceded that La Liga can claim to host football's best league. However, the Premier League can reassert its supremacy in the Champions League, added the defender, whose Manchester United team-mate Ronaldo joined Milan's Kaká and Internazionale's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in moving to Spain in big-money deals this summer.
"La Liga have bought marquee players – I think Ronaldo obviously, Kaká and Ibrahimovic are three of the best players in the world and any team would like to have them," Ferdinand said. "They've all gone to La Liga alongside the likes of [Lionel] Messi, [Andrés] Iniesta, Xavi [Hernández] and people like that. So they've got a claim to being the best league in the world.
"I think the last three or four years we've had English teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League so that says it all about where the Premier League is at at the moment. This season we have to wait and see if we're still the best league in the world or not."
However, United face competition for the world's best players from a club closer to home after Manchester City spent heavily this summer.
"I'm sure they will be hoping to be up there and trying to contend for the top four spots," said Ferguson of United's local rivals. "You've got to look at it as a fan: it's great when there are more contenders for the league title.
"You can see the social issues and the social ethics of saying the world's in recession at the moment and it may be wiser to spend it in different ways, but who am I to tell them to spend their money in a different way?"
When asked if he wished United were throwing around money like City, Ferdinand said: "I'd be a lot more envious and maybe a bit jealous if I didn't have the squad that I've got in my training room. I'm confident we can win every game."
But United have made a stuttering start to their campaign for a fourth straight Premier League title – and record 19th overall – having beaten Birmingham and Wigan, but losing to promoted Burnley.
"We all know we've started badly on the last few occasions in the past couple of seasons," Ferdinand said. "We've managed to win it and hopefully this can be the same scenario."
There was no gloating from Ferdinand about Liverpool losing their second match of the season on Monday to Aston Villa.
"It's early days. You don't win the league in the first couple of weeks of the season, you win towards the end when you put a few good results together and you go through the thick of the Christmas period, and if you get through on top there, hopefully you can get over the line."
These are frustrating times for the 30-year-old Ferdinand having spent the opening weeks of the season as a spectator while recovering from a thigh injury. Despite being sidelined at times last season with back and calf problems, Ferdinand has no worries about his long-term fitness and has targeted a 12 September return against Tottenham.
"People made a bit more of it than it was – last season was the first season in a long career so far that I've had a sustained period out of the team," said Ferdinand. "I played 40-odd games last season which is more than most other players in the league – so I'm not doing too badly. A lot of players would be happy to start 40-odd games."
When he is away from the pitch, Ferdinand is developing a new career as a digital publisher. For the latest edition of online magazine 5 – Ferdinand's shirt number – he has interviewed United fan Usain Bolt and Roger Federer.
"This is something I can do to get my mind off the game," Ferdinand said. "As a kid I think I thought about the game too much, but now I think about it at the right times."
Source: The Guardian