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Rio Ferdinand says Arsenal had an ‘aggressive’ defender who was so underrated

Rio Ferdinand has now been discussing an Arsenal player from the past that still doesn’t think gets enough credit to this day.

Ferdinand certainly had some big clashes with Arsenal over the years, in the era of Sir Alex Ferguson going up against Arsene Wenger.

Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

The defender would often be attempting to stop the likes of Thierry Henry or Robin van Persie, at least before he made his famous switch.

Of course, Mikel Arteta’s side are pretty clear of Manchester United right now, delineating how s♒u🐭ccessful the Spaniard’s appointment has been.


Arteta🐷 still has a good opportunity to win club football’s two most prestigious prizes this year, the league title and the Champions ✅League.

And although the Arsenal boss is blessed with two of the league’s best centre-backs in William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, he’d still welcome a player like Sol Campbell in his prime.

And when speaking on the ‘’ podca𝐆st, Campbell was the Arsenal player that Ferdinand thought was still underrated to this day.

Rio Ferdinand says Arsenal defender Sol Campbell was seriously underrated

Speaking on the podcast, Ferdinand was explaining his relationship with Nemanja Vidic at United, and couldn’t help but t🔯hen praise the Arsenal man.

He said: “My partnership with Sol, I enjoyedꦆ playing that because again he was front foot, aggressive, quick, could cover the channels as well.

“So♉l was a top player, he doesn’t get talked about [enough] like some people, when you’re talking about top defenders.

Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

“The last years at Spu♓rs – you lot [Gary Neville] were trying to get him to United, I’m sitting ဣthere thinking ‘I’m coming up, don’t let him go there’.

“Some people you gel with, John Terry was good but it wasn’t as good as it was with Sol Campbell, I felt like we had a really good p🅷artnership that would be hard to play🐼 against.”

Can William Saliba or Gabriel Magalhaes reach Sol Campbell’s level at Arsenal?

I🍸n terms of comparing Sol Campbell to Arsenal’s excellent defenders today, it seems as if it will ultim🎉ately come down to honours won.

Campbell won two league titles with Arsenal and three FA Cups, delineat💦ing how much the likes of Saliba and Gabrᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚiel will still need to achieve.

But if they both stay at the club for a long time, and Aജrteta does as well, there’s no reason to believe they can’t.

Of course, Arsenal’s focus ꧒will now be 🎐switching to a clash with Brighton & Hove Albion this weekend.

And both Ian Wright and Roy♏ Keane have just shared their scorဣe predictions.