{"id":278167,"date":"2024-03-29T10:15:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T10:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/?p=278167"},"modified":"2024-03-29T09:49:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T09:49:37","slug":"rio-ferdinand-claims-that-jonny-evans-has-been-manchester-uniteds-best-centre-back-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/2024\/03\/29\/rio-ferdinand-claims-that-jonny-evans-has-been-manchester-uniteds-best-centre-back-this-season-278167\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio Ferdinand claims that Jonny Evans has been Manchester United&#8217;s best centre back this season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--Article Start--><\/p>\n<p>Former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, has become the latest pundit to wax lyrical on Jonny Evans&#8217; renaissance as a Premier League defender and has labelled him the team&#8217;s best defender this season.<\/p>\n<p>After suffering a set of serious injuries, the Northern Irishman could only play a bit-part role in Leicester&#8217;s attempts to beat the drop last season, where they were ultimately unsuccessful in doing so.<\/p>\n<p>Things got so bad that Evans has even admitted that he was considering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sports\/soccer\/evans-says-he-considered-retirement-before-man-utd-return-2023-10-17\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">retirement<\/a>in the summer due to injury.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly the rumours still persist as his national team coach, Michael O&#8217;Neill, had to <a href=\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/2024\/03\/25\/northern-ireland-boss-michael-oneill-refutes-suggestions-jonny-evans-is-contemplating-retirement-278001\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dispel<\/a> the notion that the defender was considering international retirement as he was left out of the nation&#8217;s two recent friendlies.<\/p>\n<p>However, the 36 year old has shocked everyone by stepping up when required and putting in a series of top drawer performances for the Red Devils as the club has had to withstand a shocking amount of injuries this season.<\/p>\n<p>Despite currently nursing a <a href=\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/2024\/03\/14\/jonny-evans-ruled-out-of-northern-ireland-squad-after-picking-up-a-knock-against-everton-277497\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">knock<\/a>, Evans has played 24 times this season and been vital in some wins such as his performance versus <a href=\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/2024\/02\/18\/jonny-evans-stands-up-for-manchester-united-when-they-need-him-most-276266\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luton Town <\/a>where he came off the bench to make a scarcely believable 11 clearances in 45 minutes of football.<\/p>\n<p>Pundits such as <a href=\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/2023\/09\/25\/gary-neville-admits-he-was-wrong-about-jonny-evans-after-sensational-display-vs-burnley-270078\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gary Neville<\/a> have already admitted that they were wrong to write Evans off before a ball was kicked and his captain, <a href=\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/2024\/03\/10\/bruno-fernandes-calls-jonny-evans-zidane-after-another-defensively-sound-display-vs-everton-277299\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bruno Fernandes<\/a>, has jokingly compared the player to Zinedine Zidane.<\/p>\n<p>Now, speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/newsoncool\/status\/1772951913669054557\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cool FM News<\/a> , Rio Ferdinand has had his say on the Ulsterman&#8217;s Indian summer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s been arguably our best defender this year and that says a lot,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When he first signed, and even though he&#8217;s my mate and I played with him, I was like: &#8216;Flippin&#8217; hell, how are we signing Jonny at this time?! Are we going backwards?'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But he&#8217;s come in and when he has been asked to do a job, he&#8217;s done it really, really well&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was with him the other day at the training ground and he has surprised himself in terms of the amount of game-time he&#8217;s had, but then you&#8217;ve got to go out there and produce and play&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s testament to him as a professional footballer as well because you&#8217;ve got to prepare yourself and you&#8217;ve got to be ready for those moments, and he has been so good luck to him&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/2024\/03\/24\/erik-ten-hag-can-finally-unleash-his-best-manchester-united-with-lisandro-martinezs-return-vs-brentford-277950\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lisandro Martinez<\/a> hopefully returning for tomorrow&#8217;s crucial fixture against Brentford, or at least in the near future, hopefully Evans will not need to be called on as much as he has over the past few months.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is safe to say, if he is, the 106-times capped Northern Ireland international will be ready to make a contribution.<\/p>\n<p><HR><br \/>\n<em>Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/United-Breaking-News\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/United-Breaking-News<\/a>.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thepeoplesperson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/bit.ly_United-Breaking-News-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-277801\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/bit.ly_United-Breaking-News-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/bit.ly_United-Breaking-News-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/bit.ly_United-Breaking-News-400x400.png 400w, https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/bit.ly_United-Breaking-News-585x585.png 585w, https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/bit.ly_United-Breaking-News.png 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--Article End--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, has become the latest pundit to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94178,"featured_media":273502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3323],"tags":[791,3819,684],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - 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