Ferdinand names two Man Utd players who have given Ten Hag ‘food for thought’

Rio Ferdinand thinks Man Utd youngsters Charlie Savage and Zidane Iqbal have given Erik ten Hag “food for thought” during their first two pre-season friendles.

The Red Devils have won their opening two matches of their pre-season tour, beating Liverpool 4-0 earlier in the week and Melbourne Victory 4-1 yesterday.

Goals from Scott McTominay, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and an own-goal from Edmond Lupancu sealed a win in Australia yesterday after going a goal behind to Melbourne within the first five minutes.

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A number of youngsters have been included in the pre-season squad and Ferdinand has picked out Savage and Iqbal as the two players who have made the most impact so far.

“I’ve watched the last two pre-season friendlies and the young lads in midfield there – Charlie Savage has been excellent, Zidane’s been very good as well,” Ferdinand told his Vibe with Five YouTube channel.

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“So I think it’s good food for thought. It’s always that way in pre-season, you get a couple of players who come out of nowhere and you go I didn’t expect that from them.

“I remember Jesse Lingard all them years ago when David Moyes came and I remember Moyes saying to me, ‘Rio, I didn’t know Jesse Lingard was that good’.

“[Wilfried] Zaha was brilliant in pre-season, it didn’t quite work out for him in the long run but you can get your opportunity in pre-season