Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has identified Romelu Lukaku as another player the club made a mistake selling, accusing the Red Devils of failing to play to the Belgian striker's strengths during his time at Old Trafford.

Lukaku, who joined Manchester United from Everton for £75 million in 2017, scored 27 goals in his debut season but saw his form dip in his second campaign before being sold to Inter Milan.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand praised the 32-year-old striker who recently helped Napoli clinch the Serie A title: "I need to give a shoutout to a man called Romelu Lukaku. He is another player who left Manchester United [and thrived]. He won Serie A again and scored on the night they won it."

The former United defender highlighted what he believes was a fundamental misunderstanding of Lukaku's playing style during his time in England.

"I look at Lukaku and the problem, especially in England, has been everyone looks at what he can't do or what he is not so good at. Just because he is big and quick, people expect him to play in a certain way. His game is about running onto things and running at people," Ferdinand explained.

"Another mistake I think Man United made was we didn't play to his strengths and we got rid of him too quickly probably," he added.

After leaving Manchester United, Lukaku enjoyed productive seasons at Inter Milan before joining Chelsea. Following struggles at Stamford Bridge, he was sent on loan spells back to Italy before eventually securing a permanent move to Napoli last year.

Lukaku's recent success with Napoli, where he scored in their 2-0 victory against Cagliari that secured the Serie A title, has reignited discussions about his career trajectory since leaving Old Trafford.

This is not the first time Ferdinand has criticized Manchester United's transfer decisions. Last week, he named four other players he believes the club made mistakes selling in the past.