Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has spiced up Sunday's match with QPR by insisting he has no regrets over letting Rio Ferdinand leave the club this summer, according to Manchester Evening News.
The Dutchman took the decision to not offer the 35-year-old a new deal shortly after coming in as boss, but Ferdinand is set to return to Old Trafford with new club QPR on Sunday.
Van Gaal's comments came even though United have been struggling for numbers at centre-half this season.
He said: "There is a time to stay and time to go and I think he decided to go. He was a great player and maybe he is still a great player, but there is always a time to go for a player in a club.”
Ferdinand made 444 appearances for United since making a £28.1 million move from Leeds in 2002, winning six Premier League titles and a Champions League crown in 2008. But he has regrets over how his exit was handled, insisting that he wasn't able to say goodbye to the club and the fans in the way he wanted to.
The former England star revealed: “I never got the chance to say bye when I left, which was unfortunate. Ed Woodward offered me the chance to come down and do that before the pre-season game against Valencia, but it didn’t feel right for me to do that. It feels far more natural for me to come back and play [for QPR], give everyone a wave and say, 'thank you.’
“It’s nice to have an opportunity to come and see everyone. “I went to the training ground over the summer to see some of the dinner ladies and the office staff that I’ve known for years and who helped me along the way.
“It’s an old cliché, but the club is bigger than everyone else and it’s so true. There’s more to it than one player and I understand that, I’m not selfish enough to think that everything revolves around me and that I deserve to stay at Manchester United. Everyone has their time to leave and mine was now.”
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