Rio Ferdinand names the 12 footballers he considers world class right now

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has named 12 footballers who he considers are world-class at the moment. Ferdinand feels Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka still has a long way to go in his career to be considered in the elite bracket.

Ferdinand named eight Premier League players in his list. He named Manchester City’s Ederson, Kyle Walker, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, and Liverpool trio of Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.

Furthermore, Ferdinand picked Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)’s Kylian Mbappe, Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, and Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham to complete his 12-player list.

Ferdinand said in a pre-match chat with TNT Sports (h/t Metro): “They’ve actually got that list a little bit wrong because Bellingham was on the list a little below that on his own. He’s edging into there but the thing that means he’s not on that list for now is time. He will be there. He’s in world class form, he just needs that time.”

Commenting on Saka, the six-time Premier League winner concluded: “That’s why I say Saka has got that world-class potential but he just hasn’t been exposed to the knockout stages of the Champions League or the longevity. The other players on that list, they’ve played in the top prestigious games and they’ve produced in those moments, or they’ve done ridiculous things over a long period of time.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal suffered a 1-0 loss against FC Porto in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League first-leg contest. Mikel Arteta admitted his players lacked purpose in the match, which led to their downfall.

“We dominated the game but we lacked purpose, especially in the first half, to have much more aggression, to break lines, to play forward, to generate much more threat in their backline. In the second half, there were much better things and we generated a lot without really creating much from it, but we’ll learn from it.”

Arsenal will next face Newcastle United on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium.