Manchester United blog..

According to the latest news, Rio Ferdinand is in no hurry to talk about his future at Manchester United, his current deal runs out in the summer of 2009. The concern for many supporters is that Rio's last deal was protracted and only agreed after 16 long months of negotiations, added to which the England defender has stated his desire to play on the continent before he retires. With such a short time frame to iron-out any new deal there must be a strong possibility that Ferdinand could leave on a free transfer next summer.

If United are keen to tie Rio down to a new long-term deal, then what on earth have they been doing allowing him to run down the clock? That is a question that many United fans will be asking on hearing this news. Ferdinand and Vidic have formed arguably the best central partnership in European club football, to break that up would be costly, if not act of madness, though the club could well be powerless to prevent it from happening if the player is set on moving to pastures new.

We the fans have been led to believe that the reason for the delay in talks over this new deal is according to reports down to the players agent Pini Zahavi. There is no suggestion at this stage that Rio is ready to leave the club, but it would nice to hear the player come and say that he wants to stay at United.