Rio Ferdinand has been singing the praises of his former teammate Jonny Evans but at the same time, insisted it’s a poor look for the club.

Evans was brought back to the club as an emergency defender at first but has ended up stepping into the team 23 times this season already amid a raft of injury and form problems for others.

Evans did fairly well over the weekend to contain Erling Haaland despite United losing 3-1 in the end.

And speaking about his former United teammate on the FIVE podcast, Rio Ferdinand has said that while he admires Evans for what he’s doing, it’s a bad sign for the club in general.

“I didn’t expect him to come in and play as many games and I didn’t expect him to do as well as he’s done. But he hasn’t put a foot wrong, it’s crazy. He’s good with the ball, he’s probably good with the younger players. He’ll probably go into coaching after. He wouldn’t have expected to play as many games but listen, the way he’s going it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a new contract, if not there then definitely somewhere else,” Ferdinand said.

“But really, as well as he’s done and as much as I admire him as a professional, really he shouldn’t be at Man United. It just shows you where they are. He shouldn’t be being asked to come in and play and chase Haaland around. That’s not what the top clubs are doing nowadays.”

Manchester United have to be better

It’s a good point this from Ferdinand and he does well to praise his former teammate while also calling his former club out on a few things.

Yes, United have had injuries but when you look at the likes of Arsenal, City and Liverpool they all have better options at centre-half.

For Evans to be playing as many games as he is quite poor really for United. They should have enough squad depth and quality to not be relying on a 36-year-old who had his best years at the club many moons ago.

A big summer is coming for United with Jim Ratcliffe now in the picture and it would be a surprise to see someone like Evans stay at the club.