Rio Ferdinand has offered advice to Manchester United youngsters who are on the pre-season tour with the first team squad.
Amad, Facundo Pellistri, Ethan Laird, Tahith Chong, Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage are just some of the youth players who have been given the opportunity to fly out to Thailand and Australia this summer to be part of the squad. Pellistri made an instant impression to Ten Hag when he scored against Liverpool in the first match of the tour.
Meanwhile, Iqbal has impressed many with his performances so far. According to Ferdinand, the pre-season tour is a crucial part of their development as players.
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Speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, Ferdinand explained what the youngsters should expect from their time away. "It was the be-all and end-all, if you could get on that tour," he said.
"You knew there would be an opportunity through injury or anything. Just being around the players, you’d be able to grow and be able to learn and that’s a key thing for any player.
"I look at the Man United tour right now, you’ve got Charlie Savage, Zidane, there’s a few on there. These are valuable moments for these kids, even if these boys don’t play one moment during this tour.
"The fact they’ve gone away and can sit there and be a sponge around the players, how do they prepare for training, how do they recuperate, how do they prepare for matches, how do they recover after matches, what their nutrition looks like, how often they’re taking water, in evenings how do they rest. All of these are so important for a young player.
"If you asked a 16-year-old before he went on tour, he wouldn’t have a clue the answer to most of them questions. If he comes off that tour and he doesn’t know the answer, he’d have to be blind or walking around with a blindfold on - making sure he doesn’t get to see."
Ferdinand went on to explain how, as a senior player he would help younger members of the squad on tour. "It’s daunting, it’s intimidating coming into the first-team changing room then going to training with these players that have been on your walls and superstars you’ve seen on TV," he added.
"Then all of a sudden you’re in that changing room, whatever level, it’s harder, it’s a more harsh environment. I always took it upon myself to make players feel comfortable in that environment.
"If you spoke to a lot of young players at Man United especially who came into the first-team from [Tom] Cleverley, [Danny] Welbeck, Anderson, Nani, Cristiano [Ronaldo], [Wayne] Rooney to the [Jesse] Lingard’s, Lee Martins’, Chris Eagles’, Ravel Morrison, [Paul] Pogba’s, they’d all tell you I would always give them time, make them feel comfortable whether it was on the training pitch or the hotel. I would always give them a bit of time to calm their nerves a little bit and make them feel like: ‘Yeah I’m bringing you in, man, we’re going to go, go training, you’re going to be cool.'
"If there’s a problem you might look around and see me and think: 'Yeah you’ve spoken to me before’ and given them a bit of time. I had it in different environments, I had it in England when I went in as a kid, my first squad, a few people didn’t really talk to me or greet me how I should’ve been as a young player and I thought I’d never want a young player to feel like that again."
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