Having become the world's most expensive defender for a second time upon joining Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand made a rather mixed start to life at Old Trafford after seeing his side pick up just four points from the first 12 on offer.
The defender, who joined from Leeds United for a fee of £30m - eclipsing the £18.5m paid to initially land him from West Ham United - was unable to help keep the ball out of the net in an opening-day draw with Sunderland, as well as enduring defeats to Bolton Wanderers and Leeds.
It was the latter of those losses, on this day in 2002, which would have particularly hurt the 23-year-old centro-back. His return to Elland Road was marked by heavy jeers around the ground, as supporters left unhappy with the way he had handed in a transfer request made their thoughts known up close.
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After relenting to the Red Devils' high-profile pursuit, chairman Peter Ridsdale finally agreed to sell the club's star asset to their great rivals, citing the "significant return" in transfer value behind their decision to part company.
The cultured defender, famed for his composure on the ball and ability to stay on his feet, only saw his profile rise more and more after an impressive showing at that summer's World Cup, meaning that Sir Alex Ferguson was not going to withdraw his long-running interest until he finally had his man.
Ridsdale himself wished Ferdinand "all the best in his future career", but supporters were not quite so forthcoming with their well wishes. The Englishman did not have to wait long for his return to Yorkshire; the key fixture between the two sides coming just four games into the Premiership season.
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Ferdinand himself was booed every time he touched the ball, each seemingly being greeted by a louder jeer than the one before. Unfortunately for the West Ham product, whose cross-club record fee between British clubs still stands, he was unable to prevent Harry Kewell from darting in to head home the only goal of the game.
Unsurprisingly with the Ferdinand backdrop dominating all the pre-match talk, there was a real frenetic start to the contest. Leeds, unchanged from last time out, really looked to put the pressure on their opponents' backline early on. However, despite fielding what was an unfamiliar midfield - including the more advanced Phil Neville - the visitors settled in well.
In fact, it was the visiting side who were very much on top for large parts of the first half, without being able to truly break down a well-structured Leeds outfit. Then came a real flash point, as David Beckham appeared to deliberately catch Lee Bowyer with his elbow and was deemed extremely lucky to remain on the field of play.
Both teams looked to change things around as the contest wore on, and it was to be Terry Venables's Leeds side who benefited thanks to Kewell's header past the reach of Fabian Barthez. Ferdinand, desperate to make a positive impression in these early stages of his Old Trafford career, was nowhere to be seen.
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It marked a first victory for the Whites over their trans-Pennine rivals in 10 attempts, and was enough to move them up to first place in the early league standings. Ferguson's charges, meanwhile, would later rally to reclaim their crown - finishing five points above Arsenal and some 36 ahead of 15th-placed Leeds.
The contrasting fortunes of both Leeds and Ferdinand in the years since have been well publicised, but there is no denying that, with six top-flight titles, three League Cups, one Champions League and one World Club Cup crown to his name, the illustrious former England international certainly had the last laugh.
LEEDS UNITED: Robinson, Mills, Woodgate, Matteo (Radebe-45), Harte, Barmby (Bakke-45), Bowyer, Dacourt, Kewell, Smith, Viduka (McPhail-72)
MANCHESTER UNITED: Barthez, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Blanc, Silvestre, Phil Neville, Beckham, Butt (Chadwick-63), Giggs, van Nistelrooy (Forlan-71), Solskjaer
Daniel Lewis
