Rio Ferdinand and Jamie Carragher engages in social media fight over movement of players to Saudi Arabia

Rio Ferdinand and Jamie Carragher engages in social media fight over the movement of players to Saudi Arabia

Two former English football stars Rio Ferdinand and Jamie Carragher have entered into a heated argument on social media about how Saudi Arabia has increased their involvement in football transfer.

According to a video spotted by GhanaWeb online, Ferdinand was heard accusing the former Liverpool man of hypocrisy over Saudi Arabia’s growing investment in football.

The investment of the Middle-East country into football clubs and players has been a significant talking point among talking heads in the game.

Former Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand has called out compatriot Jamie Carragher on why the defender has remained mute on the transfer of former teammate Steven Gerrard who was appointed as the new manager for Al-Ettifaq on Monday, July 3.

“Jamie. Jamie Carragher. Where are you, man? I heard a lot of talk, a lot of negativity about Saudi. Oh, Bernardo Silva, I can't believe it. It's a disgrace, it needs investigating, this league, et cetera. Steven Gerrard's gone. You used to carry his boots and his bag at Anfield to games. Your boy's gone over there and I've not heard a peep out of you. I've not heard how disappointed you are. I want to see him say "I can't believe Stevie's gone there".

'I'm actually buzzing for any of the guys that have gone out to Saudi. Because it's Saudi, people are going mad, but all these other countries and leagues over the years have done exactly the same thing”, Ferdinand said in the video.

Carragher also took turns to hit back at the comments and cited Ferdinand's questions silence over Qatar during the 2022 World Cup.

“Never criticized Silva, [Karim] Benzema, [Ruben] Neves or SG, I don’t like Saudi trying to buy football like they have Golf”, he tweeted.

“I knew you’d be all over it @rioferdy5 like you were in Qatar! That's why you refused to do the opening game for @BBCMOTD didn’t want to criticize your paymaster!”, he added.

Saudi Arabia football is one of the fastest-growing competitions in world football and its vast wealth and recruitment have been the dominant story of this summer’s transfer window.

Notable among football stars who have made the Saudi Pro League one of the most talked about is Portuguese International Cristian Ronaldo Ronaldo who plays for Al-Nasr, Karim Benzema, and N’golo Kante who both joined AI-Ittihad in June. Roberto Firminho from Liverpool to Al-Ahli.

Others are; Ruben Neves from Wolves to Al Hilal, Jota from Celtic to Al-Ittihad, Marcelo Brozovic from Inter Milan to Al Nassr, and Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy from Chelsea respectively to Al Hilal.

Check the tweetbelow:

Never criticised Silva, Benzema, Neves or SG, I don’t like Saudi trying to buy football like they have Golf.

I knew you’d be all over it @rioferdy5 ????????????

like you were in Qatar!

Thats why you refused to do the opening game for @BBCMOTD didn’t want to criticise your paymaster! https://t.co/ibJeNJ5WaU

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) July 6, 2023