Rio Ferdinand thinks he knows the real meaning behind Jose Mourinho’s comment about Issa Diop on Saturday afternoon.
Mourinho singled out Diop as one of West Ham’s top performers in Manchester United’s defeat to the Hammers and praised the club’s scouts for discovering the young defender.
Speaking to BT Sport, Mourinho said: “Congratulations to the scout who found the 21-year-old kid, Diop. He was a monster and dominated every single duel.”
While most viewers saw it as no more than some kind words about the youngster, who moved to West Ham for a club record £22 million in the summer, Ferdinand has an interesting theory.
The former United centre-half was asked for his take on Mourinho’s post-match interview and offered up a take that’s not exactly far-fetched.
“The stability of the club is key,” said Ferdinand. “For any football club you need stability from top to bottom.
“Here, there seems to be mini wars going on in the changing room and probably above that as well.
“Even talking about the scouting networks who found Diop, the young centre-back for West Ham, is that a sly dig? It’s a dig, that’s what I read into that, he’ll probably deny that but I see why he mentions that.”
"Congratulations to the scout that found Diop." 👀
"McTominay was our best centre-back."
Jose Mourinho making his recruitment frustrations clear… pic.twitter.com/ZMMmNzKYTV
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 29, 2018
Fellow pundit Paul Scholes agreed with his former teammate’s opinion, claiming that “you almost feel like that’s a dig at his own scouts.”
Mourinho had prioritised the need to sign a central defender in the summer transfer window but the club failed to grant his wish, leading to plenty of questions about United’s recruitment policy.
The club has since advertised for the position of a recruitment analyst, with the aim of improving United’s scouting procedure.
