Rio Ferdinand in disbelief at bold claim that one Man Utd legend ‘peaked’ at 23 to 24 years old

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Rio Ferdinand was left in complete disbelief after hearing the wild claim that Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney “peaked” at 23 to 24 years old.

Widely regarded as one of the best players of his era, Rooney enjoyed a glittering professional playing career and ascended to club legend status at United.

During his prolific spell at Old Trafford, the 38-year-old ex-United star lifted five Premier League titles, a Champions League, a Europa League, an FA Cup and three League Cups.

Rooney would also overtake Sir Bobby Charlton, who sadly passed away last month, as United’s all-time leading goalscorer before leaving Old Trafford in 2017.

The former United striker, who also broke Charlton’s England goalscoring record at the time in 2017, went on to play for Everton, DC United and Derby County before retiring from football.

READ MORE: David Beckham shares ‘very special’ moment in Man Utd career and talks up one of his idols

Ferdinand’s reaction to shocking Rooney claim

Speaking on his VIBE with FIVE show, Ferdinand was dumbfounded when one of his co-presenters claimed that it “went downhill” for Rooney after he “peaked” at 23 or 24.

“What am I hearing? Oh my God, wow! […] ‘Rooney went downhill from 23, 24,’” he said on his YouTube channel.

“Bro, Wayne Rooney… I think Wayne Rooney needs to fall off this planet for people to start respecting him properly.

“He needs to be… it’s not even about stats with Wazza, his impact in the team is not measured by stats. He’s one of those players.

“This guy, I’ve said this enough too many times, he had centre-backs, he had opposing players, looking at him like he was an alien in the tunnel. I know players who were begging for his shirt before the game was even started.”

Ferdinand offers insight into Rooney’s mentality

Following his illustrious playing career, Rooney went on to manage Derby County and DC United before taking up his current post at Birmingham City last month.

Ferdinand, who played alongside Rooney for both club and country, hit back at claims that his ex-teammate ‘peaked’ at a young age with an insight into more meaningful stats.

“If you wanna do stats then, every single Sunday or Monday after a game we would be on the bikes in the gym — the whole team, 25-man squad on the bikes, turning our legs over,” he added.

“Digital screen in front of us or the stat man would come with all of the details about the games, right?

“My man [Rooney] would always go in there and go, ‘What was my accelerations and what was my total distance covered?’

“And he was always at the top. He weren’t waning. He weren’t like falling off physically because he was always at the top of them stats. Run more than anyone in the team 90 per cent of the time.”