‘Lethal’: Rio Ferdinand says ace Arsenal got for £500k was harder to defend than Thierry Henry

Follow us on Google Discover

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand has been reminiscing about his playing days, and he touched on how tough it was to defend against Nicolas Anelka when he was at Arsenal.

Anelka is undoubtedly a Premier League legend. He’s a title-winner with Chelsea, while he also won a Golden Boot, but Ferdinand believes that he played his best football with Arsenal.

Ferdinand says that he simply couldn’t deal with Anelka’s pace at the time, and he even claimed that the striker was tougher to play against than the legendary Thierry Henry.

What’s Ferdinand said about Anelka?

Ferdinand spoke about Anelka and his time at Arsenal.

“He was up there with the best I played against when he was at Arsenal. When he left Arsenal, I wouldn’t say that, I wouldn’t put him in that league. When he was at Arsenal, wow, I thought ‘jeez, this guy’,” Ferdinand said.

“I actually found it harder to play against him than Thierry. He played right against me, Thierry was intelligent and would attack you from different areas, whereas Nicolas would go one vs one with you. At West Ham the ball went behind me, I was five yards ahead of him and the ball was within 15 yards and he beat me to the ball. He was a joke and he was lethal in front of goal.”

Electric

Arsenal signed Anelka for just £500,000 back in 1997, and from day one he was a revelation.

The Premier League was still in its infancy, and Arsene Wenger had only just joined the club, so you can imagine the shockwaves that were sent through the league when this French teenager came and started ripping defences to shreds.

The story Ferdinand tells about Anelka outpacing him tells you all you need to know. Ferdinand is one of the quickest defenders to ever play in England, but even he couldn’t outdo Anelka even with a five-yard head start.

The striker was incredible during his younger days, and while Ferdinand claims it was easier to deal with him when he was a bit older, he still managed to win a Golden Boot and help Chelsea to a title later down the line.