Rio Ferdinand, the renowned Manchester United legend, recently disclosed that Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes privately messaged him in response to Ferdinand’s criticism of the Brazilian player’s performance style.
In the course of the 2022/2023 season, Ferdinand had openly voiced his opinion about Magalhaes’ propensity for making errors, a view that Magalhaes apparently took offense to. Consequently, he reached out to Ferdinand via direct message in order to defend himself.
During a discussion on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand expressed his thoughts on players’ inability to accept criticism, saying, “I said that last year and he [Gabriel] didn’t like it, he DM’d me. This is a big thing, for me, with players today, they can’t take criticism.”
Ferdinand also added, “Players today, not all of them, I have had quite a few players who have come through their agents. I have said, ‘don’t you get your agent to speak to me. You get your player to come and chat to me and I will chat to him, no problem’.” He appreciated the fact that Gabriel personally reached out to him, however, he believed that Gabriel misunderstood his comments.
Magalhaes played a pivotal role in Arsenal’s title challenge last season.