Despite leaving Manchester United for Queens Park Rangers over a decade ago, Rio Ferdinand remains one of the club’s biggest advocates – and recently, in a chat with Michael Owen, he revealed that failing to sign the talismanic Harry Kane has been the ‘biggest mistake’ they’ve made in the last decade.
It seems surreal to think that 2012/13 – Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season at the club – is the last time that the Red Devils reigned triumphant as the champions of the Premier League. Ferdinand was key in that, of course, having played 28 league games that term.
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A West Ham United academy graduate, the London-born defender played with an array of upper echelon strikers – Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robin van Persie all spring to mind – but United’s centre-forward issues have, in the post-Ferguson era at least, have been the root of their woes.
Rio Ferdinand: Not Signing Harry Kane is Man Utd’s ‘Worst Mistake’ of the Past Decade
Harry Kane
Over the years, an array of recent options – a list that includes, but is not exclusive to the likes of Anthony Martial, Rasmus Hojlund and Wout Weghorst – have not been able to help overcome the club’s biggest challenge in recent years, which is securing the services of a reliable source of goals.
But recently, while appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Owen spoke about all things football – from his Ballon d’Or-winning stint with Liverpool to England’s chances of winning the 2026 World Cup under the stewardship of Thomas Tuchel.
He also spoke about how Kane, who is England’s all-time top goalscorer with 73 strikes in 107 outings, could have been the perfect antidote to the Old Trafford outfit’s ongoing centre-forward challenges. “I mean, Harry Kane should have… should have a year ago, a couple of years ago. That should have happened, I think. They could have got him, I think,” he said.
Ferdinand couldn’t help but agree with his former England teammate as he replied: “That’s the biggest mistake I think they’ve made in the last 10 years. Yeah, well, I think if they go and pay the number that Spurs want, they would have got him.”
It became clear that Kane was considering leaving Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2023 – and Erik ten Hag’s side were interested in his signature. The club overlooked the golden opportunity, however, and signed Atalanta sharpshooter Hojlund instead.
Former United coach Benni McCarthy revealed all in an interview with the Daily Mail. The club’s higher-ups believed that Hojlund, in the long run, would be a smarter investment and that’s why the Englishman was eventually snubbed.
Defender-turned-pundit Ferdinand then continued, “And if we’re to believe that, then I think if it didn’t happen because of a couple of million here or there, I think it was a terrible decision.”
“I honestly think. I’ll say this and I’m convinced. If United had gone and got Declan Rice and Harry Kane in that window, Man United are in a different place now. Because again, it goes back to the environment. Those two drive an environment, I think.”
Watch Ferdinand and Owen's analysis of Man Utd's interest in Kane below:
London-born Kane – widely regarded as one of the best English strikers of all time alongside the aforementioned Owen – moved to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2024 and has, as expected, continued to be a goalscoring menace in Bavaria.
Leaving plenty of records in tatters at his feet, the three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner has – at the time of writing, of course – plundered 91 strikes in 100 appearances under Vincent Kompany. That figure is only poised to rise exponentially.