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QPR ready to make Ferdinand highest paid player

Rio Ferdinand spent 12 years at Manchester United © Getty Images

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Queens Park Rangers are weighing up an £80,000-a-week offer that will make Rio Ferdinand the highest paid player at the club.

Ferdinand, a free agent after ending his 12-year stint at Manchester United, is reportedly keen to work with Harry Redknapp, who gave him his professional debut at West Ham in 1996.

But the 35-year-old is weighing up a number of offers, including Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and West Ham, as well as from the US, Dubai, China and Turkey - where brother Anton plies his trade since leaving QPR last year.

Cut-price Fellaini available

Marouane Fellaini has failed to score in 21 Manchester United appearances © Getty Images

• Manchester United will listen to offers of around £15 million for Marouane Fellaini this summer, just nine months after making the midfielder the club's fourth most expensive signing of all time.
• Meanwhile, Luke Shaw has told Southampton that he wants to move to Old Trafford.
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Ferdinand, who will work for the BBC as a pundit during the World Cup, wrote in his Mail on Sunday column: "I can assure you of one thing, though: I'm not quite ready to join the Lineker-Shearer retirement club just yet. I see myself as going to Brazil very much as an active footballer with playing time ahead of me.

"It is feasible that in the coming weeks, perhaps even while I'm in South America, I'll make a decision about the next stage in my career. When that happens I'll tell you about it.

"But I have options on the table from several clubs in England and overseas for next season and I'm intending to play on if the right situation arises. There is, in all honesty, nothing settled yet.

"Whatever I do next has to be right for me and my family and I'm going to take it one season at a time. I'm keeping myself fit and in shape, doing my running and my workouts, so I'll be ready for whatever new club I join."

Harry Redknapp has made no secret of the fact Ferdinand is one of his main targets after securing promotion back to the Premier League with a 1-0 play-off final victory over Derby County.

Last week, Redknapp said: "Rio is a very good player. I signed Rio at 14 [for West Ham]. He's a fantastic player and a great pro. He's probably been the best centre-back in Europe in the last few years. What a career he's had at Manchester United. You need good lads who know the game. They can run the dressing room. It's an easy game when you've got good players."

He added: "QPR need a bit of experience. Most importantly, though, we need players we can rely on and who are prepared to have a go. Last time there were lots of players brought in who were not really up to the job. We have to make sure we've got the right sort of lads this time around."

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