Man Utd boss: £30M on Ferdinand was money well spent

Ferguson said: “When we paid that money we were looking at having the player for 10 years.

“Now we are really looking at 12 years. The longer he is here the better. He was always a player with enormous potential who had all the great attributes you would want in a centre-half.

“There were moments when he was careless because he was so relaxed. But age has brought maturity in his game and now he handles everything.”