The Times:
Three weeks after being given a one-month deadline to decide on his future, Rio Ferdinand is to risk further antagonising Manchester United by requesting more time in which to consider a new five-year £100,000-a-week contract that would make him the highest-paid player in British football.
Ferdinand appeared to reveal a sense of anxiety when he claimed three weeks ago that "my head is on the chopping board" after being told that he must give the United board an answer by the time he returns to pre-season training on June 27, but that date is approaching with no further negotiations scheduled and the England defender no closer to a decision. Instead, he intends to enter the final two years of his existing contract, a course of inaction that does not sit easily with the club’s management, who are aware of his depreciating value.
Sources close to Ferdinand maintain that he has no intention of leaving Old Trafford and that his apparent insouciance should not be interpreted as a lack of commitment.
But United, far from being appeased by the noises coming from the player and his agent, Pini Zahavi, are increasingly concerned by the hold-up. Should the impasse drag on, it is conceivable that they would invite offers for the defender, with Barcelona the most likely bidders, rather than leave themselves open to the risk of losing their £30 million record acquisition on a free transfer when his present contract expires in June 2007.