United cash in on the Rio cameo

Pay-per-view TV audience of 60 million get 20-minute glimpse of Ferdinand in Bournemouth kickabout

Where were you at 4.33pm yesterday? Had you been anywhere near Bournemouth, you could not have helped but hear the roar as the world's most expensive defender made his debut for Manchester United in a 3-2 friendly win at Dean Court.

The programme cover announced that the main purpose of this match was to celebrate Mel Machin's testimonial, but no one, including the guest of honour, was fooled. The truth is that the star of the show was a young visitor with 16 on his back.

Rio Ferdinand did not even start, and yet all eyes were on him from the minute he stepped out to warm up with the rest of this makeshift Manchester United team which also included Juan Sebastian Veron, Ryan Giggs and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And the interest in Rio was not just restricted to the 8,500 supporters packed into Bournemouth's ground, or indeed the unusually busy press box.

This pre-season friendly of little sporting significance was beamed lived on MUTV across the world, with China among the countries that transmitted the match. All in all, a global audience of 60 million were thought to have tuned in for Rio's bow. Sixty million people, therefore, who will have paid a fee to watch 90 minutes of non-competitive football, 20 minutes of which included Rio. Suddenly, the £30 million transfer fee and reported £70,000 per week in wages do not look quite so daunting.

The money spent in the last week was not quite a drop in the ocean, but it will clearly not sink the United battleship. The bare facts are that Bournemouth's most expensive signing in the team yesterday cost the equivalent to 12 hours' worth of Ferdinand's wages. Half-a-day's work for midfielder Wade Elliott's services: same sport; different worlds.

Even Ferdinand must have felt a little strange on making his first return to the ground where he so impressed during a loan spell just over five years ago. Back then, of course, the only Ferdinand making the headlines was Les, as Rio's cousin was helping Newcastle United to a 12-point lead in the Premiership. How distant November 1996 must seem now to the England defender.

Ferdinand, who completed his move to United earlier in the week, was but a young hopeful when Machin brought him to Bournemouth. Three months later, he had made his League debut at Blackpool, played a further 11 times for the South Coast club and sufficiently impressed for the West Ham manager at the time, Harry Redknapp, to recall his man and put him straight into the first team.

Ferdinand has never looked back. Within 18 months, he was boarding the plane for the World Cup in France and, a year-and-a-half later, making a then-record move to Leeds United for £18m. This summer, though, has seen the player's consecration, with a sensational World Cup in the Far East and an even more unbelievable transfer to the richest club in the world.

Machin has watched his one-time protégé evolve over the years, but it is Ferdinand's new height, rather than football stature, which has most caught his attention. "My word, you've grown," were Machin's first words to the centre-back when he saw him yesterday before kick-off. Bournemouth's director of football did then add: "Rio is now really fulfilling the promise he showed."

More to the point, Ferdinand is one of the best defenders around and a natural leader at the back, which is something United have lacked in the last few seasons.

Bearing in mind the nature of the occasion and the team put out by Ferguson's new No 2, Carlos Queiroz, no one will pay too much attention to the fact that United conceded two goals against Third Division opposition. Come mid-August, Ferdinand, who looked comfortable during his brief run-out, will be expected to shore things up alongside Laurent Blanc, with a view to establishing a long-term partnership with the promising Wes Brown.

Yesterday's match, though, was all about preparing for the Premiership and Champions' League challenges that lie ahead, and, in that respect, United will be pleased with the showings of Veron, who scored the first equaliser and did not look like a player in need of an Achilles operation; Giggs, who captained the side and set up the second equaliser; and Solskjaer, who offered the winner to Michael Stewart on a plate.

Ferdinand was happy to start his United career with a win, but nothing mattered as much as getting that first appearance out of the way. And he had the courtesy to point out this was "Mel's day". "He deserves all the praise in the world," the 23-year-old said.