Rio Ferdinand has claimed that David Beckham "will come with a consortium" should he be involved with a potential bid for Manchester United after the club was put up for sale.
After 17 years of the Glazers' ownership, the club has finally been put up for sale. United fans had been pleading with the American family to relinquish their control at Old Trafford, as protests and chants of 'Glazers out' became harder and harder to ignore.
Since the announcement was made on Tuesday, a whole host of names have been linked with a possible bid.
ALSO READ: Casemiro breaks silence on Ronaldo’s United exit
Beckham, who is currently a co-owner of Inter Miami in the MLS, has also reportedly said that he would be open to the idea of joining a consortium to take charge at Old Trafford.
Ferdinand met Beckham in Qatar on Friday and told his FIVE YouTube show : "Becks will come with a consortium. I saw Becks last night at the [England vs USA] game, I went to the England game and we were sat next to each other. He smelt beautiful, looked beautiful. He looked a million dollars, as he normally does. He didn’t look 10 billon dollars’ worth (the rumoured amount required to buy United).
"But when you mention someone like Becks’ name, he’s obviously a part-owner of Inter Miami, but he doesn’t come [alone]. It’s not his money. It’s not him in terms of putting his hand in his pocket. He comes with a consortium. He comes with people who do have deep pockets who have the ability to go and execute on a deal like that.
"So that’s the way he’ll be approaching it, and rightly so. I just think it’s going to come down to a number. If you’ve got the number, and you can produce, that’s what it’s going to be about."
Ferdinand was then asked if he would like to see a former United player involved in any new potential ownership of the club.
He added: "Yeah. I think when you look at it, the clubs that are successful over big periods of time have players that have worn the shirt, understand the traditions, understand the history, understand the ethos of the football club and continue that.
"Ajax with Edwin van der Sar, Bayern Munich have [Karl-Heinz] Rummenigge in there among others, Real Madrid, Barca – they all do it. They’ve all got players who have been in and around the football club at some point in their life and they’re back in there working at the club because they understand it. And it’s a key part.
"And then they have business people around them, to facilitate and run things and control the business element of the football club. And then those people learn on the job, but with a football background. And I think that’s an area that the new owners that potentially come in have to really look at."
READ NEXT:
