Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes Rio Ferdinand could be the man to lead the club into an exciting new era.

The England defender has agreed a five-year deal, which will keep him at Old Trafford until June 2013.

Ferdinand, 29, put pen to paper in the week United retained their Premier League title by beating Wigan.

Next up are Chelsea in the Champions League final in Moscow on Wednesday - the first all-English showpiece in Europe's top club competition.

Ferdinand is being tipped to be the long-term England captain under Fabio Capello. Ferguson has similar thoughts in mind and feels the Peckham-born player is just the man to spur the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Anderson to greater glory.

"Rio has matured into his role at the club," said the United boss.

"He has shown, when needed, what a great captain and leader he can be.

"The longer Rio has been here, the better he has become. He is a natural athlete and technically a very good player.

"If you add that to the experience he has already gained then you get a better player.

"His partnership with (Nemanja) Vidic has been an important part of our success.

"You can see that from the fact we conceded only 22 goals in the league. It is a fantastic performance by them."

Ferdinand, a £30million buy from Leeds in June 2002, could end his career at United.

He said: "To be able to stay for another five years is something I wanted desperately.

"This is a fantastic club and I am definitely very happy after signing a new contract.

"You see the surroundings, training every day at Carrington and playing in front of 70,000-odd fans every week, what more could you ask for?

"It is a great honour to be part of this trophy-winning team and to share in the success, which I am sure will continue for many seasons to come.

"I would like to thank the manager, the coaching staff, the players and the fans for the tremendous support they have given me since I joined the club."

While Ferguson has a team already in mind to take on Chelsea, his biggest decision is over who to leave out, with some loyal foot soldiers struggling just to make the bench.

"It doesn't get any easier telling players they are left out, it actually becomes more difficult," he said.

"I am certainly not going to enjoy it because some very good players are going to be left out.

"I hope in the future they extend the number of outfield players like they do in the World Cup because it doesn't matter what I tell them, it doesn't resonate. The disappointment is always deep and that is understandable."

Ferguson is also concerned about the 1045pm kick-off, local time, in Moscow. "It has its problems," he added. "Should we train or just have a normal day? It is going to be a long day, no question of that."

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