Manchester United’s Phil Jones responds to Rio Ferdinand’s ‘waste of time’ comments after injury woes

Manchester United defender Phil Jones has responded to ex-teammate Rio Ferdinand’s remarks about him being a “waste of time” at the club.

The 29-year-old, who turned out for the under-23s side on Saturday, has not played for the first team since January 2020 due to serious injury problems.

And last month Ferdinand hit out at Jones by calling for him to leave Old Trafford as he was taking up a place in the squad that could be used for a young player coming through.

Jones, who played alongside Ferdinand at United, has now given his take on the comments.

Speaking to The Times, he said: “Listen, the respect I’ve got (for Ferdinand) is enormous. I’ve shared a dressing room with Rio — great professional. Loved playing with him. Great lad, good humour. Learnt so much off him.

“But what he said was poor. Really poor. I’m not into disputes, not into arguments, and if he didn’t know (what has been going on behind the scenes), he didn’t know.”

Manchester United have a host of defensive options including captain Harry Maguire, new signing Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly.

And Jones will have to fight incredibly hard to earn a spot back in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team.

The ex-Blackburn man joined United in 2011 and has played 224 times for the club. He has been included in their 25-man squad for the 2021-22 Premier League season but is yet to feature.