Rio Ferdinand has hit back at Gary Neville after the former Manchester United defender claimed Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Saudi Arabian outfit Al Nassr is a 'sad' way for the five-time Ballon d'Or winner to wind down his career.
Ronaldo, 37, confirmed he had signed a lucrative two-and-a-half-year deal with Al Nassr on Friday night - just weeks after tearing up the final six months of his contract at Old Trafford.
Shortly after the move was confirmed, Neville claimed there was "an element of sadness" at the fact that Ronaldo would be bringing the curtain down on his illustrious career in the Middle East rather than a more global stage.
But Ferdinand was quick to stress that he had spoken to Ronaldo and that his former Old Trafford teammate was "finally happy" - which is the most important thing.
He told BT Sport on Saturday: "Obviously I speak to Cristiano and there's things you have to keep quiet and you can't talk about before it hits the news. I was kind of aware what was going on behind the scenes and listen, I'm just pleased for him that he's finally happy.
"For any footballer at whatever level, happiness and the environment you're playing in is one of the most important things, he hasn't been happy for a while so I'm pleased he's on the verge of finding that happiness and going onto pastures news, albeit in a country that not many people expected him to go.
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"But what an adventure, what a prospect that is, to go and play football in a brand new league, a competitive league by the way, I played in a testimonial over there years ago, it was an unbelievable game, we were all surprised with the madness, the mayhem around football over there. The love of football in Saudi is crazy. I'm sure it's going to be a great adventure, it's a new chapter, next chapter."
Ferdinand then took the opportunity to hit out at Neville's claims. He added: "I want to touch on a couple of things; I've been watching the media and people commenting, a few pundits and all different parts of media saying 'it's sad, a sad way for him to go out'.
"There's only one sadness from me, two sadness's, the way it ended at Man United - I'm sad about that - for Cristiano and in hindsight, a couple of years, he'll look back and think it could've been handled differently from both himself and the club. That's one sadness because you want it to end in the best way possible and things be remembered positively but it won't be in some people's eyes, that's a tinge of sadness.
"The way the World Cup ended for him, a tinge of sadness, in terms of being on the bench, not having a huge impact in his last one, that's a tinge of sadness. But this next chapter going to Saudi Arabia, how do you look at that as a sadness? A sad way to end his career? I don't understand how people are saying that."
