Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand recently shared a comical locker room story involving music megastar Drake and his teammate, Owen Hargreaves. The incident occurred during Sir Alex Ferguson’s golden era at Old Trafford when Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were leading the Red Devils to multiple league titles and the 2008 Champions League triumph.
Drake, a known fan of Manchester United, visited Old Trafford and wanted to catch up with Ferdinand. Little did he know, he would also meet a fully naked and soaking wet Hargreaves. The unexpected introduction left everyone in the room awkwardly amused.
Ferdinand recounted the story on his FIVE podcast, with Hargreaves by his side. “I told Hargreaves, ‘Come out, I need you to meet this guy, man.’ He came out all wet, dripping, hair all over. Drake is standing there, and my guy [Hargreaves] is standing there with the fruit and veg out, as you do,” Ferdinand laughed.
Hargreaves confirmed the incident, adding his perspective. “So he’s [Ferdinand] called me. He said, ‘Oh, come out. I want you to meet somebody.’ So I can’t see, all I can do is hear him. I come out, Rio’s there, I look around the corner, I see this guy and I think, ‘Is that Drake?’ He’s there with his 10 homies or whatever, and there’s me. All I got is sliders on and my towel over my arm. And he [Ferdinand] says to me, ‘It’s Drake.’ And I say, ‘I know who it is.’ And his homies were looking at me like, ‘What’s going on here?'”
Hargreaves joined United from Bayern Munich in 2007 after beginning his career with Canadian underdogs Calgary Foothills. Born to British parents who had emigrated to Canada, Hargreaves had a promising career that was unfortunately marred by severe injuries, leading to his early retirement at 31.