Man United’s Sir Alex Ferguson reacts to Rio Ferdinand’s England recall

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he was surprised to learn that Rio Ferdinand had been called up to the England squad.

The Manchester United defender, who has been selected for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro later this month, has not featured for the national side since June 2011 and was not included in Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad last summer.

“I was as surprised as anyone when I heard that [Rio was being called up],” Ferguson said. “I need to speak to our doctor. We prepare Rio in certain ways and he has certain treatments he has to go through.

“The procedures have been the same all season, which has given him fantastic performance levels when he’s playing for us.

“We have to consider that and Rio is considering that. And we’ll see what the outcome of that is.”

Ferguson also said he is concerned that the 34-year-old centre-half, who has made 26 appearances this term, is at risk of burning out as the season reaches its climax.

“[Rio] has to make sure he’s going to be OK in terms of the number of games he plays,” added the boss.

“We’ve been doing that for two years with him. And it’s worked – the way we’ve detailed his training programmes and given him the treatments he needs for the various complaints he has in terms of his back and groin and things like that. So far it’s worked very well. We have to look at all these things before Rio decides.”