MANCHESTER United defender Rio Ferdinand says he was "desperate" to stay at Old Trafford after he signed a new five-year deal to remain at the club.
Ferdinand's next goal is to complete the second half of a glorious double on Wednesday when Chelsea provide the opposition in the Champions League final in Moscow.
The 29-year-old finally put pen to paper on a new contract in the week the club re
tained the Barclays Premier League title with victory over Wigan Athletic. "To be able to stay at Manchester United for another five years is something I wanted desperately," Ferdinand said. "This is a fantastic club and I am definitely very happy after signing a new contract.
"You see the surroundings, training every day at Carrington and playing in front of 70,000-odd fans every week, what more could you ask for? It is a great honour to be part of this trophy-winning team and to share in the success, which I am sure, will continue for many seasons to come. I would like to thank the manager, the coaching staff, the players and the fans for the tremendous support they have given me since I joined the club."
United conceded only 22 league goals in the campaign largely thanks to Ferdinand's partnership with Nemanja Vidic. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted with the way Ferdinand has developed after signing him from Leeds United for £30 million in July 2002. Not only that, the Scot was pleased with the way the contract negotiations were finalised with a minimum of fuss.
Ferdinand is also taking the eye on the international scene, and is being widely tipped to become the long-term England captain under Fabio Capello.
Ferguson said: "The longer Rio has been here, the better he has become. He is a natural athlete and technically a very good player. If you add that to the experience he has already gained then you get a better player.
"His partnership with Vidic has been an important part of our success. You can see that from the fact we conceded only 22 goals in the league. It is a fantastic performance by them."
While Ferdinand is keen to get his hands on another trophy, he expects Chelsea to provide tough opposition. He added: "I don't think there is a favourite as we have both beaten each other this season. A cup game is totally different and one moment of brilliance from a player on either side will swing it their way.
"We've won the championship, now we're looking towards the Champions League. It's huge. As a kid you dream about playing in the finals of big tournaments and we're lucky to be able to go out there and compete for this trophy."
Ferguson, meanwhile, has claimed the fear of never experiencing European success again drove him on to build his third great Manchester United side.
After the 1994 double winners and unparalleled treble campaign five years later, United are once again at the peak of their powers. It seems hard to believe now but it is only two seasons ago that Ferguson's team were turfed out of Europe at the group stage, with many pundits openly starting to question how long the Scot would last in the Old Trafford hotseat.
While such an embarrassingly early exit was not part of the masterplan, it did prove to be part of the learning process that now leads to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. "You have fear of many things but sometimes that drives you on," said Ferguson. "I felt it was an important time for us when we started to make another change and began to rebuild again.
"It is not easy to manage change and when you see a team starting to break up due to age, injuries or merely because others are not maintaining the level they should be at. But bringing in these young players over the last two or three years gives you optimism you can do it again. If I didn't think like that with players like Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs and Scholes then I really am a pessimist."
Among those departing were David Beckham, Roy Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy, a trio of crowd favourites Ferguson put his own reputation on the line by discarding. But now it is almost like they never existed. Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez have formed a Holy Trinity of their own and with Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes providing the element of continuity, many feel this could turn out to be the best of all Ferguson's successful teams.
In fact, such is the strength of the squad, Ferguson's biggest decision is over who to leave out, with some loyal foot soldiers struggling just to make the bench. "It doesn't get any easier telling players they are left out, it actually becomes more difficult," said Ferguson.
Darren Fletcher, John O'Shea, Gerard Pique and club captain Gary Neville are among those who could miss out in Moscow.
The full article contains 846 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
