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Ferdinand to reunite with Redknapp at QPR

ESPN staff
June 24, 2014
Rio Ferdinand spent 12 years at Old Trafford © Getty Images
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Rio Ferdinand has agreed a deal to be reunited with Harry Redknapp at Queens Park Rangers, according to the Daily Mail.

Ferdinand, 35, a free agent after leaving Manchester United at the end of last season, has been persuaded to take a huge pay cut to once again team up with the manager who gave him his professional debut at West Ham in 1996.

'If only...'

The deal is expected to be confirmed in the next 24 hours, with Ferdinand still in Brazil as a pundit for the BBC's World Cup coverage.

Ferdinand, who spent 12 years at United, winning six Premier League titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups and the Champions League, recently claimed he had plenty of offers from England and abroad.

But it appears the lure of working with the man who, at West Ham, developed him into the world's most expensive teenager when he joined Leeds United for £18 million in 2000.

And the newspaper claims Ferdinand was convinced he can enjoy a fresh challenge having met with former Netherlands' midfielder Ruud Gullit.

Ferdinand said: "He told me the couple of years he had at Chelsea were some of the most enjoyable of his career because there wasn't at that time the pressure of trying to win trophies."

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