Ferdinand is reported to be unsettled at Leeds and will have talks with new manager Terry Venables when he gets back from holiday.

Venables will try to keep him at the club, and Ferguson is keeping a close eye on the situation.

"We're waiting on things developing," said Ferguson.

"Leeds have said themselves that we are the club that has talked to them about Rio, so it's no secret.

"It is not our job to antagonise people and there will be no war of words.

"If he's available then we'd be interested, but it is not clear cut.

"We will work away at it, but there are alternatives."

Ferdinand, who will meet with Venables next week, told The Mirror newspaper that he wants to win some silverware as soon as possible.

Short career

"Winning trophies is very important to me," he said. "I've never won anything in my life and I'm not afraid to say I'm getting impatient.

"I may only be 23 but I feel time's moving on and I'm not getting any younger.

"It's a relatively short career and when you finish you want to look back on what you've achieved.

"The clearest way of assessing it is to look at your medals and I don't have any.

"I'm at the stage where I want to win things yesterday."