Following a few seasons plagued by injury and losing out on his place in the England squad, people wondered whether Rio Ferdinand’s career was coming to an end.

Rio has gone from strength to strength this season, having already played in more games than he has in the past two seasons, and Nemanja Vidic has claimed his top performances shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

“At the beginning of the season there were a lot of people questioning Rio, asking whether he could do what he did in the past, can he play, is he finished?” Vidic said. “This was nonsense. Rio has hunger and now he has proved people they are wrong. He is a very important player, not just this year but over the past years and he has done very well over the last few months.”