Rio Ferdinand sends Luke Shaw transfer message to Man Utd after Ipswich win

Rio Ferdinand defended Luke Shaw after Manchester United’s win over Ipswich (Picture: Rio Ferdinand Presents)

Rio Ferdinand has encouraged Manchester United to find an ‘understudy’ rather than a replacement for Luke Shaw before the summer transfer deadline.

Shaw and the rest of Michael Carrick’s squad came in for heavy criticism after falling to a 2-0 defeat to newly promoted Hull City in their Premier League opener last weekend.

The 31-year-old left-back also endured a difficult start against Ipswich as he was beaten all ends up by Abdul Fatawu on the wing for Leif Davis’ strike in the 29th minute on Sunday afternoon.

However, Bruno Fernandes inspired a spirited fightback with a stunning hat-trick to ensure the Red Devils came away from Old Trafford with a 5-2 victory – the club’s first win of the campaign.

Carrick decided to take Shaw off for Noussair Mazraoui with 17 minutes remaining of normal time, one of five changes made by the United head coach in a breathless second half at the Theatre of Dreams.

After the game, Rio Ferdinand launched an impassioned defence of Shaw on his Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel, claiming the England full-back had been one of United’s most ‘consistent’ performances over the last 12 months.

According to Ferdinand, United should be looking for left-back to ‘bed in over time’ rather than someone to force Shaw – the club’s longest serving player – from the side.

Shaw had a tough afternoon against Ipswich (Picture: Getty)

The England international is United’s longest serving player (Picture: Getty)

The legendary ex-United and England defender said: ‘In a couple of my WhatsApp chats, some United fans were saying, “Luke Shaw, get rid!”… Luke Shaw, over the last year, has been one of our most consistent performers and you’re sitting there saying, “He should be there”, or, “He should be somewhere else”… no!

‘Go and get a left-back that we want to actually bed in over time to be a replacement for someone like Luke Shaw.

‘You think you’re going to go in the market and find someone? It’s like £60m we’d have to pay. We ain’t got that!

‘We haven’t got the budget after paying the amount of money that we have to reinforce the midfield.’

Shaw was one of United’s most consistent performers last season, says Ferdinand (Picture: Images/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

Ferdinand argued that one ‘below-par’ game was not enough for fans to start calling for Shaw’s head.

He added: Listen, Luke Shaw has had better games, yes, but is he one where we’re looking to improve that area immediately? No, no. We need back-up in that area now with the thought of long-term.

‘Let’s not get carried away. There’s too many people getting carried away and have personal vendettas against people to try and make people think he’s not good enough.

United have been linked with Newcastle left-back Hall throughout the summer (Picture: MI News/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

‘Just look at the last year’s performance. He was one of our top four or five performing players consistency-wise, 100 per cent. One below-par game today doesn’t change things for me.

‘The only thing I would say is in the left-back area, yes, we haven’t got that understudy there where you’re thinking that’s a ready-made replacement looking to come in. We haven’t got that guy right now.’

United have been linked with a host of left-backs across the summer, including Newcastle and England star Lewis Hall.

Ferdinand believes United should be looking to find an ‘understudy’ to Shaw (Picture: Getty)

However, Newcastle have reportedly ruled out a move for Hall and the Red Devils are fast running out of time to strengthen the position.

‘The club don’t think Harry Amass is that guy it seems because he doesn’t seem to be close to it at the moment,’ Ferdinand went on.

‘That’s the way it is, whether we believe Harry Amass is good enough or not.

‘It seems the club doesn’t feel like that so I don’t look it at like: replace Luke Shaw. I look at it like: let’s find someone who could be a replacement in time, over time, because I still think he [Shaw] is good enough to play.

Fernandes’ hat-trick heroics inspired United to victory against Ipswich (Picture: Getty)

‘It’s just the volume of games we’re going to have this season, he isn’t going to be able to play all of those games.’

After the club’s nightmare start at Hull, Ferdinand was pleased to see Fernandes and Co turn it around with an ‘entertaining’ display against another of the Premier League’s new boys.

‘It was nice to watch after an uncomfortable first half,’ the six-time Premier League winner said of United’s showing against Ipswich.

Carrick’s men have picked up three points from their opening two matches (Picture: Getty)

‘We’d given up too many chances, they should have probably gone in ahead at half-time.

‘I will say the first half was nervy but this game is about entertainment and you’ve got to embrace that.