Rio Ferdinand says Sir Alex Ferguson would ‘go nuts’ over Manchester United leaks, while Trevor Sinclair accuses Paolo Di Canio of ‘feeding media’ at West Ham

Rio Ferdinand has given his opinion on the dressing room leaks at former club Manchester United, revealing Sir Alex Ferguson would ‘go nuts’ in his attempts to stop them.

Ferdinand’s long-time United teammate Gary Neville had earlier revealed he knows who is behind the ‘disgusting’ leaks at Old Trafford.

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The most recent story concerned manager Ralf Rangnick’s American assistant Chris Armas, who is said to have been nicknamed Ted Lasso by United’s players, in reference to the comedy football manager.

The story is one of a number to emerge from the club in recent weeks undermining interim manager Rangnick, with Neville describing it as orchestrated ‘self-preservation' by players’ individual marketing teams.

The Sky Sports pundit’s former teammate Ferdinand has now commented on the matter, saying he expects an agent is to blame.

“Gary must have some people in the media that are telling him,” . 

“It might not be directly the players, I would be very surprised if it’s a player who’s talking to a journalist and saying ‘guys this is what’s going on’. 

“It will be a player that’s spoken to their agent or family member who’s got a good relationship with someone in the media and they’re spilling the beans.

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“But the players have got to be intelligent enough to know that there’s some things that get said that you just don’t put in the conversation.”

Man United are now unrecognisable from the team that dominated England and Europe during Ferdinand and Neville’s time, with the Ferguson era regarded as one of the greatest in football history.

A huge part of that was down to the tight ship the legendary Scot kept, with players well aware that the team always came first.

However, leaks still occurred on occasion, and Ferdinand explained how Ferguson’s reaction showed just how bad an offence it was.

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He said: “The odd time a team would come out, and you could never say who it was. 

“It would just be like ‘someone’s told their agent’ and then the agent’s told someone in the media just to soften that relationship they’ve got with them to keep them sweet

“And then the manager used to go nuts. ‘How’s this getting out on a Monday morning? If I find out who this is, watch’.

“I just feel that’s down to the players to come together, and that’s down to the players to hold that meeting and say, 'listen, this can’t keep happening because we’re going to try and find out who this is, whose agent this is'. 

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“And if it comes back it’s someone's agent then the finger will be pointed directly at you in this changing room, so just keep some stuff private.”

talkSPORT host Trevor Sinclair was asked for his views on the matter, and revealed it occasionally happened during his playing career.

The Premier League regular with QPR and Manchester City revealed that it was at West Ham where one player spoke to the media, singling out an individual that may surprise some.

“It happened from time to time, I had a few suspects who were getting information out,” Sinclair said on the talkSPORT Breakfast.

“Because he’s not here and he won’t even hear about it, I think [Paolo] Di Canio used to feed the press a bit at West Ham.

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“It does happen and it’s usually a player that’s not having a good time, he’s not in the team or he’s playing out of position or he’s not enjoying playing under the manager and they’ll have a confidant in the media they’ll leak a few little stories to.

“Listen, it’s poor. Loose lips sink ships - that phrase has forever stuck with me and I’ve always tried to keep close counsel with what was going on in the changing room.”