Rio Ferdinand has revealed he and Frank Lampard stopped speaking when they were at Manchester United and Chelsea because they were 'focused on winning trophies'.
The former team-mates first forged a bond at Upton Park, however contact stopped when medals were up for grabs.
Ferdinand, Lampard and Joe Cole, broke through at West Ham United under Harry Redknapp's tutelage in 1999 and became a permanent first-team fixture.
Speaking on BT Sport ahead of Man City's clash with Newcastle at the Etihad, Ferdinand said: 'It does [impact your friendships].
'It is well documented Frank Lampard and I grew up together at West Ham. When he went to Chelsea and I went to Manchester United, we didn't speak.'
'It wasn't a conversation or a fallout, he was focused on winning as many trophies as possible and I was as well. It happens. Some relationships stay the same,' he continued.
'Even with Joel, we have become close now we have retired because we are not fighting over anything.'
The former United defender, 44, won the Champions League and six Premier League titles with the Red Devils.
Meanwhile, the Blues legend, 44, made 648 appearances for Chelsea and won the Champions League and three Premier League titles.
It comes as Ferdinand said Arsenal's players will be more than aware of goings on at the Etihad prior to their clash with Bournemouth.
Pointing to his own experiences of title races, Ferdinand said players do not block out of the outside noise of rivals' results and said the proximity of televisions and mobile phones make it practically impossible to do.
'There is no doubt in my mind that there will be televisions all over the place and players have their phones with the game on,' he said.
'It will be in their mind. You can’t get away from it. It can alter your mind going into a game.
'I played games when I went out for the warm-up at the team we were fighting against were behind, came back in from the warm-up and they had turned it around and were winning.
'We were like oh and having to jee players up against. We went out and drew the game, it can affect you if you don’t have players with the right experience to get you motivated for the game based on what the result it.'
Ferdinand was part of six title-winning sides at United, though was also involved in two gut-wrenching final days in which they saw the title slip away from them, in 2009-10 and, most notably, 2011-12.