Rio Ferdinand has spoken about the importance of Tom Heaton for Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United.
The 37-year-old is fully aware that he is a second or third-choice keeper at Manchester United, but that doesn’t mean his value for the club is any less than others.
Rio Ferdinand compared Tom Heaton to Manchester City’s Scott Carson, who plays a similar role of always being a bench player for his team.
But the former centre-back thinks he falls into the category of such importance at Old Trafford because of what he does away from the pitch, as he told Vibe with Five.
Tom Heaton joined Manchester United in 2021 after a brief spell at Aston Villa, which ended in a long-term injury, before Emiliano Martinez took over and then the Englishman departed.
Since then, the £45k-a-week star returned to old territory and back where it all started where he has made three appearances, two of them have come under Erik ten Hag.
Most of the time, the former Burnley number one is sat on the bench, or out of the matchday squad altogether, with Rio Ferdinand giving him his flowers despite that.
Tom Heaton at Manchester United
“Tom Heaton is going to be a Scott Carson,” said Ferdinand. “In terms of value in the changing room, he (Pep Guardiola) said ‘Scott Carson is huge for them’.
“Tom Heaton would probably fall into that category. He must be.”
Manchester United’s goalkeeping options
In the summer, ten Hag made a big call by allowing David de Gea to leave for nothing, even though he had been a long-serving player for the team.
Jack Butland also departed and joined Rangers. Since then, Graeme Souness has expressed his shock at Manchester United’s call.
But nobody could blame them for going for a player like Andre Onana, who is your typical modern-day goalkeeper, performed well at Ajax, just had his best season at Inter and reached the Champions League final.
Unfortunately for ten Hag, his big-money summer signing has let him down big time and is a key reason why they aren’t even in Europe post-Christmas.
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