Ferdinand spooked after White House pictures disappear

Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand believes that he may have been the victim of the US security services after his photographs of inside the White House were removed from the internet.

The 32-year-old uploaded the pictures onto his Twitter page, but he was left “baffled” after they were quickly removed.

When he realised what had happened, he joked that he had been targeted by fictional spy Jack Bauer from television series '24'.

The Manchester United squad visited the White House on Thursday as part of their pre-season tour of the States.

As they were shown around the iconic building, Ferdinand wrote: “Whoa....some1 has got into my phone + taken down my pics off twitter....this is deep...is jack Bauer in Washington?!”

One of the removed photographs had been given the caption: “the security needs beefing up here at the White House....!!,” and the England defender later tweeted: “My pic of the security was #removed quick, rapido, sharpish, fast....they don’t play here in DC...I feel like I’m on 24 right now #baffled”.

Photographs of Ferdinand in the State Dining Room and his teammates eating cookies were allowed to remain online.

But the issue was still on his mind the following day, as he wrote: “Training just done in DC....feels kinda weird...feel like I’m being watched by some undercover jack Bauer type dudes...phone hacked into etc”.