Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who said a few days ago that he cannot see Rio Ferdinand playing for the England national team at the moment, has said that the decision taken by the England defender to not be part of the squad against San Marino as the correct one.

At 35 years of age, the international career of the former West Ham and Leeds United defender may well be over. He was not taken by the England manager, Roy Hodgson, for the Euro 2012. In fact, his last international tournament was back in 2006 when he played at the World Cup.

As a result, there have been suggestions that he may be left out of the squad to face San Marino and Montenegro in crucial World Cup qualifying matches. However, Hodgson included him in the squad due to the defensive crisis.
Ferdinand, though, pulled out of the squad by stating that he would be available from the next match onwards. Incidentally, Ferguson said a few days ago that he was not sure whether Ferdinand can continue playing for England.
Ferdinand’s contract runs out at the end of the campaign, and he is keen to stay at Old Trafford. However, he was apparently aware of the fact that Ferguson may not hand him a new contract if he went to play with England against his wishes.

“He did the right thing to go down and see Roy. I encouraged him to go down and do it face to face. He needed to explain how we handle him now and how he prepares for games. I think Roy appreciated that. I was only catching up on a couple of things over the last couple of days and to be honest it doesn’t bother me one bit. They had the weekend off and players are entitled to do what they want,” said Ferguson.