Ferdinand ranks top five best Premier League managers ever ahead of Klopp exit

30 January 2024 , 17:13

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Rio Ferdinand has given his top five (Image: FIVE)

Rio Ferdinand has included outgoing Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on his list of the Premier League's top five greatest ever managers - but only at No.5.

Klopp, 56, dropped a bombshell last Friday by announcing that he'll be leaving Liverpool at the end of this season, citing exhaustion as his primary reason behind the decision after nearly nine full years in charge. Despite only lifting one league title so far, Klopp's legacy is among the best in Premier League history after restoring the glory days at Anfield.

But according to Ferdinand it's far from the greatest, as the former Manchester United centre-back made an obvious selection for his No.1: Sir Alex Ferguson. After the legendary Scot, the debate began with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola at No.2. "What Pep's done is a madness," Ferdinand declared on his YouTube show, Vibe with FIVE.

"Regardless of what you can say about these issues that are ongoing or whatnot," the ex-England international added, referencing City's looming 115 charges which the Premier League threw at them last year. "In terms of creating a team to play mad football and ring out win after win and points they've earned, it's ridiculous."

Next up were Jose Mourinho - who's managed three different Premier League clubs: United, Chelsea and Tottenham - and Arsenal icon Arsene Wenger. For Ferdinand, there was no separating them. "I think Mourinho and Wenger would go side by side for me, for different reasons," the player-turned-pundit continued. "And then Klopp [at fifth]."

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A fellow pundit, Chris Sutton, has the same top five as Ferdinand but ranks Klopp higher, having put Wenger in fifth spot and Mourinho in fourth. "At three, Jurgen Klopp," ex-Norwich, Blackburn and Chelsea striker Sutton declared on the Daily Mail's podcast, It's All Kicking Off.

Your turn! Do you agree with Rio Ferdinand? Give us your top-five ranking in the comments section.

Jurgen Klopp will leave Liverpool at the end of this season (Paul Currie/REX/Shutterstock)

"[He] got Liverpool back to their glorious best, won a Champions League, won a Premier League, totally transformed the Liverpool team. At two, Pep Guardiola. The brand of football which he's played with, we've never seen the likes of the football which Pep's Manchester City have played in the Premier League.

'He's won a Champions League now, been such a dominant force with Manchester City. Number one, it's obvious. Head and shoulders above everybody else. Sir Alex out there on his own, 13 Premier League titles, a couple of Champions Leagues in there as well. So pretty straightforward that actually."

Nathan Ridley