Ferdinand has firmly established himself as an accomplished central defender in his own right despite early comparisons with his older brother. He broke through three years after Rio's £18m move from West Ham United to Leeds United in November 2000.

With Rio having made 157 appearances for the Hammers, the younger Ferdinand has also passed the century mark, while picking up 17 England U-21 caps along the way, too.

Glenn Roeder handed the Peckham-born stopper his first-team debut at Preston North End in the opening fixture of the 2003/04 season as West Ham United set about making an instant return to the Premiership.

The rookie in the rearguard went on to make 26 appearances during that first season in which the Hammers promotion challenge sadly faltered at the final hurdle against Crystal Palace at the Millennium Stadium.

Having made just ten Championship starts for West Ham United, Ferdinand was also handed his England Under-21 debut in the 3-1 victory against Ukraine at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium in August 2004.

Ferdinand may have missed out on that first play-off final but just 12 months later, he was given the nod by Alan Pardew, who was rewarded with a commanding Cardiff performance that saw Ferdinand help the club to keep a clean sheet in the victory over Preston.

That climaxed an encouraging 2004/05 term in which he also won a total of three England U21 caps and rubber-stamped the place in those play-offs with his first goal for the club in the final league game of the season at Watford.

Assertive in the air, calm under pressure and a good reader of the game, Ferdinand carried his Championship form up into the Premiership and, yet again, found himself back at the Millennium Stadium for the 2006 FA Cup final defeat by Liverpool in which he missed from the spot as the Reds went on to claim a penalty shoot-out victory.

Making 30 appearances in an injury-punctuated 2006/07 campaign, the relieved Ferdinand made his 134th outing for West Ham United in the dramatic final-day 1-0 victory at Manchester United as Rio watched from the stands.

In June 2007, Ferdinand made his 17th and final appearance for the Young Lions in their incredible 13-12 penalty shoot-out defeat by the host nation Netherlands in the 2007 European Under-21 Championship, in which he both scored and missed from the spot.

A hamstring injury cost him two months of football during the first half of the 2007/08 season but he bounced back in fine style, scoring the equaliser against his brother's Manchester United side in the 2-1 home win on 29 December.