‘He’s now a saviour’: Rio Ferdinand says player sold by Manchester United for nothing last summer now looks ‘red-hot’ for his new club – Ten Hag will be regretting now
Rio Ferdinand has hailed former Man united star Anthony Elanga after seeing the former Manchester United winger shine for Nottingham Forest.
United needed to raise funds this summer and that meant offloading some homegrown players.
Nathan Bishop, Teden Mengi, Zidanei Iqbal, Noam Emeran and Ethan Laird were all sold as they seek to make names for themselves away from Old Trafford.
We even saw more experienced homegrown-eligible players leave the club with Dean Henderson sold late in the window to Crystal Palace.
There was also the sale of Anthony Elanga, which will have pulled on the heartstrings of some United supporters.
Anthony Elanga simply had to leave Manchester United
Elanga joined United at the age of just 12 after his family moved from Sweden to England.
Elanga rose up through the United ranks and ended up becoming a first-team player, racking up 55 appearances and four goals.
We saw some great moments from Elanga; the goal away at Atletico Madrid in 2022, the way he terrorised Trent Alexander-Arnold at Old Trafford around this time last year.
The problem was that Elanga just wasn’t able to nail down a regular starting spot at United and was limited to just five Premier League starts last season.
That meant Elanga was left with other choice but to seek a transfer away, picking a £15million move to Nottingham Forest in July.
Elanga went with the well-wishes of United fans, many of whom wouldn’t be at all surprised if Elanga went on to become a star.
Rio Ferdinand hails Elanga after Manchester United exit
Elanga is starting to make his mark for Forest having scored the winner against Chelsea over the weekend.
United fans loved that moment and former defender Rio Ferdinand has now joined in.
Speaking on FIVE, Ferdinand suggested that Elanga now looks ‘red-hot’ for Forest and praised him for destroying Chelsea over the weekend.
Ferdinand added that Elanga is impacting every game he plays for Forest and really looks ‘electric’ under Steve Cooper.
Elanga must put all of his attributes together in order to kick on but Ferdinand hopes his ‘purple patch’ for Forest continues.
“What happened to Chelsea man? They got smoked by Elanga, one of our players we’ve let go!” said Ferdinand. “Elanga has looked red-hot by the way, did you see what he did to Mudryk? He done well man, every game he’s impact since he’s been at Forest. He came on against you guys [Arsenal] and set up the goal, then he scored against Chelsea and got the winner. This kid looks electric.”
“One thing that’s never in doubt with him is his pace, and his application and his desire. It’s whether he can get it all together and have it consistently and then get the performances out of him in that sense. Now, listen, he’s gonna be judged over a period of time, but right now, he’s in a purple patch and long may it continue for him,” he added.
