The former Man United center -back Rio Ferdinand believes that only two clubs are capable of competing for the Premier League championship in the 2025/26 season, Liverpool and Man City.
Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Prations, the former captain of MU said that the movements in the transfer market are clearly reflecting the situation of the upcoming season.
Ferdinand appreciated Liverpool after the brilliant first season under coach Arne Slot, when they won the Premier League championship with a 10 -point difference compared to Arsenal. Man City, despite being third and is judged to be disappointed, is still a formidable force. However, according to Rio, Arsenal could hardly squeeze into the race despite two consecutive seasons in the leading group.
“Only Liverpool and Man City are enough to win next season,” Ferdinand said. “Arsenal can cause a stir in the first few months, maybe 6 months, but then it will be short of breath.”
The reason why Ferdinand eliminated Arsenal from the race was because of the faint transfer activities of the London team. Although approaching the recruitment of Martin Zubimendi, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Christian Norgaard, Ferdinand said that these are not the contracts that are enough to enhance the Gunners' squad.
“Norgaard is 31 years old, Kepa is just a reserve goalkeeper of Chelsea, and Zubimendi is the central midfielder – while both the team and Arsenal fans desire a striker or a class -left wing player.”
On the contrary, Ferdinand praised Liverpool when they recruited Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and especially Florian Wirtz – a young talent being sought by Man City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
“Nobody said much about Liverpool surpassing a series of big guys to get Wirtz. That shows that they are having a clear plan, a convincing vision. When you are a player and enter such a meeting with Slot, you will feel the project is really attractive,” Ferdinand said.
Man City is also active when Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders. Ferdinand said that Guardiola was “regenerating” the squad to return stronger. However, Liverpool is still the team that he appreciates more thanks to the organization and action speed.
According to Rio Ferdinand, the 2025/26 season may witness the race between the two giants – and Arsenal will have to accept outside without a realistic breakthrough in terms of force.
