'My heart goes out to him' - Rio Ferdinand sends message to Man United forward Joshua Zirkzee
Rio Ferdinand has said his "heart goes out" to Joshua Zirkzee after the Manchester United forward was booed and cheered off the pitch during Monday night's 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United at Old Trafford.
With United trailing 2-0 with just 19 minutes played, head coach Ruben Amorim made the decision to make a tactical switch 14 minutes later, substituting Zirkzee and replacing him with Kobbie Mainoo.
As the Dutchman's shirt number was displayed on the fourth official's board, large sections of the Old Trafford crowd produced ironic cheers as he jogged towards the touchline to trade places with Mainoo.
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After grabbing his tracksuit jacket, Zirkzee made a beeline for the Stretford End tunnel, visibly upset by the reaction he had just been subjected to. He reappeared a few minutes later and was applauded by sections of the home crowd and United substitutes Leny Yoro and Alejandro Garnacho.
Zirkzee has had a testing time since joining United from Bologna in the summer, scoring four goals in 27 matches, but the reception he earned against Eddie Howe's team was out of order. And for Ferdinand, he felt it was impossible not to feel sorry for him.
Ferdinand, speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, said: "I feel for him. I'm really, really gutted for him as a former professional footballer.
"To be dragged off after 30 minutes is hard to take and then the reaction in the stadium as well, there was some boos and stuff like that. It's difficult, man.
"My heart goes out to him and I hope he can recover and I hope he gets rebuilt from within, from the players and the manager. The manager said, 'I'm going to go and speak to him because it was a tactical decision,' but what I would say is that this isn't the first time we've seen this happen.
"We've seen better players come back from this, we've seen some bigger and better players dragged off at these times in a game and it's about having the resilience to come back as well."
