Rio Ferdinand tells who gets 'ripped' in Man United legends' WhatsApp chat

Rio Ferdinand has revealed that Manchester United's 2008 Champions League winners are all in a WhatsApp group, and that one player in particular bears the brunt of the banter.

The past decade aside, United are one of the most successful football clubs in history.

The Red Devils have had multiple golden generations over the years, but the most recent won pretty much everything there is to win between 2006 and 2013.

Sir Alex Ferguson led a team including legends like Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney to a whole host of trophies.

Between 2006 and 2013 United won five Premier League titles and reached three Champions League finals, winning the 2008 edition by beating Chelsea on penalties in the final in Moscow.

Plenty of United fan favourites played in that 2007/08 side, and Ferdinand has confirmed that many players keep in contact via a WhatsApp group.

During an appearance on The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan on Friday night, Ferdinand opened up on what goes on in the chat.

"You got like [Wayne] Rooney, [Patrice] Evra, [Darren] Fletcher, Nani… not [David] Beckham, he’s too old," the former defender said.

Beckham left United in 2003, a year after Ferdinand joined the club. After his departure United fell behind the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, but before long Ferguson had assembled a team of new stars.

Patrice Evra was one of them, but unfortunately for the Frenchman, he tends to be the butt of his former teammates' jokes.

"Evra just comes in and out because he gets bullied in there," Ferdinand said.

"He gets ripped and all you see is, 'Patrice has left the group'. And then you get a text a couple of hours later, ‘Can you let me back in please, add me, add me'."

Ferdinand and Rooney. Image: Alamy

Gilligan also asked Ferdinand about the famous white suit he wore at his unveiling as a United player, following his £29.1m move from Leeds in July 2002.

Ferdinand took the group chat to ask his former colleagues whether he should revive the suit, and Evra replied: "Bro, this is fire, you have to wear it!

Evra's reply was a direct message, rather than a message to the group chat.

"So, he's come outside of the group because he knows if he says that inside of the group, they'll kill him. He'll be told to get out of the group," Ferdinand explained.

Evra may have liked the white suit, but Sir Alex Ferguson certainly didn't.

In an interview with 433, Ferdinand said: "The manager said to me on this day, he said, 'Rio, what the f*** are you wearing?' He said to my mum, 'What is he... what is this suit? Is he for real with this suit?' But I didn't care. I always wear what I want, I don't care anyway."