Rio Ferdinand has shared his verdict on 'class' Phil Jones after the Manchester United defender played for the first time in 707 days against Wolves.
The 29-year-old, who rubber shoulders with Ferdinand at the start of his Old Trafford career, returned to the team alongside Raphael Varane amid injury set-backs to Harry Maguire and Eric Bailly.
Had it not been for AFCON duty, the Ivorian might have appeared, while Victor Lindelof was also unavailable as he continues to recover from Covid-19.
Despite inadvertently heading the ball towards Joao Moutinho for his match-winning strike, Jones was one of the stand-out performers for United last night.
Ferdinand previously suggested that his former teammate ought to have left Old Trafford 'ages ago'.
However, while moving to clarify those comments on his popular Vibe With Five podcast, the ex- United man also had to 'tip his hat' to the returning centre-back.
Due to serious injury problems, Jones last appeared during an FA Cup tie with Tranmere in January 2020.
Ferdinand said: "For someone to come in from the cold like that, you have to tip your hat to someone like that.
"They were playing him maybe to put him in the shop window, first and foremost, but if he plays well enough, the manager might change his mind. That can happen in football very quickly.
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"I'm just pleased he got through the game unscathed, no injuries. He put in a decent performance after such a long time out, not easy to do. So you've got to tip your hat to Phil Jones.
"He's come in for a lot of stick, a lot of my words have been misinterpreted a little bit - but you've got to say 'well done' in terms of the amount of time he's been off the pitch, to come in and play in the Premier League and play at the standard he did.
"Albeit his header was the one that fell to Moutinho's foot before he scored, but I thought he [Jones] was class for long periods in the game."
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