Rio Ferdinand was the footballer he wanted to be but maybe not always the person. Away from the field, betterment came later.
It is almost seven years since Ferdinand removed his boots in the Manchester United dressing room at the end of the 2013-14 season. As he prepared to get changed, he was informed he was no longer required. That hurt.
Nothing, though, prepared the tall, easy moving central defender for what was to come next. The loss of his wife Rebecca to cancer at the age of 34 in 2015. The loss of his mother Janice to the same disease at the age of 58 two years later.