Ryan Giggs says £100m star was ‘destined’ to play for Man Utd, Rio Ferdinand ‘loved him as a player’

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Some footballers are best defined as being ‘Manchester United players’ and often they end up wearing the famous red shirt at Old Trafford, but not always.

To say that someone is born to represent Manchester United is among the highest of compliments within football, as it means more than just being a good player.

In order to embody United, a player has to have the personality, style, and passion that gets Old Trafford behind them. In the current squad, Bruno Fernandes is the one clear player who fits this bill.

Signed in 2020, Fernandes was an instant sensation with his creativity, goals and assists all leaving fans chanting his name. But it was his personality and clear love for the club which made Fernandes a legend and a player who is United through and through.

Two players in history who are the same, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs, both are undeniably United players, with the pair playing a key role in Sir Alex Ferguson’s success at the club.

Now, these two club legends have been speaking, and Giggs has revealed one player he thinks was born to play for United.

• READ MORE: Who is Rio Ferdinand? Age, Height, Wife, Children, Net Worth

Ryan Giggs says Jack Grealish was destined to be a Manchester United player

In 2021, the British transfer record was smashed by Manchester City as they made Jack Grealish their marquee signing. However, days before this, Grealish was offered the chance to join United, but ultimately, a move to City went through.

United had also wanted to sign Grealish in 2020, before ultimately deciding to make a move for Donny van de Beek instead, which worked out far from perfectly for the Dutchman as he never quite got a run of games. Van de Beek was sold to Girona last summer for £500k, although Grealish also struggled at City.

Now, speaking on the Rio Meets podcast with Ferdinand, Giggs has named Grealish as a player he always thought was going to end up at Old Trafford.

“Jack Grealish was (destined to be) a Manchester United player!” the Welshman admitted, before Ferdinand chimed in with a complete agreement.

“100%. I loved him as a player at Aston Villa. I think he’s not been allowed to be who he actually really is at Man City.“

At the time when United could have signed him, Grealish was the epitome of a United player with his dribbling, creativity and leadership all being traits that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side could have used more of.

However, seeing how he has performed in City colours, it will ease United’s minds slightly that they were right not to complete the swoop.

Jack Grealish before and after Manchester City move

While Grealish has become almost an Antony-like figure with his lack of impact at City for the £100m paid, he has become well-known.

However, as Ferdinand suggested, much of this could be Pep Guardiola’s habit of killing any flair or individuality within a player like Grealish or Jeremy Doku, to name two, instead turning them into system players.

For Villa, Grealish was the main man and wore the captain’s armband, often being a bit of a one-man team with his last season at the club seeing him score six and assist 10 in 26 Premier League games, but he was the figurehead of that team.

• Aston Villa – 213 games, 32 goals and 41 assists
• Manchester City – 155 games, 17 goals and 23 assists

Since then, despite playing for the four-time consecutive champions, he has struggled and averaged around four goals and six assists a season, roughly.

At United under Solskjaer, however, in the free-flowing attacking football, he might have thrived, and it certainly would have suited him much more than the rigid system of Guardiola.