Former Manchester United Rio Ferdinand looks set to put the finishing touches on a deal to join QPR when he returns from Brazil, claims the West London club’s manager Harry Redknapp.
The defender, 35, is working for the BBC as a pundit at the World Cup after the club brought his 12-year stint at Old Trafford to an end in May.
And it appears a return to his native London is on the cards for the first time since he left first club West Ham United for Leeds in 2001.
“Rio Ferdinand has agreed to join us and we’re hopeful of getting that one over the line when he gets back from the World Cup,” Harry Redknapp told the Guardian.
“I can’t foresee any problems with it and we’d be delighted if we can get it done soon. He’s been a player at the top of the list since he left Manchester United and he would give the whole place a lift with his quality and experience.”
After injury dogged him in recent seasons and appearances on block BT’s Premier League coverage, questions were asked about whether Ferdinand would opt to hang up his boots.
And the former England international, who won 81 caps for the Three Lions, was also rumoured to be following ex-United team mate David Beckham to the United States.
But it appears Redknapp, who brought Ferdinand through the youth ranks at Upton Park, has won the race to snap him up on a free.
The Red Devils made him the most expensive defender on the planet in 2002 with a then-record £30million swoop after Leeds had paid £18m to bring him up north 18 months earlier.
Success followed him to the city as he scooped six Premier League titles, an FA Cup winners’ medal, two League Cup trophies as well as Champions League and Club World Cup success in 2008.
He made 457 appearances for United, but was limited to 23 games last season under David Moyes’ doomed reign.
Main image courtesy of BBC via YouTube, with thanks.
