By Nigel Smith
Does last season’s squad plus Michael Carrick and a goalkeeper but minus Ruud Van Nistelrooy, equal a trophy or a taxi for Sir Alex this term?
After the childs play of swatting the Premiership's lesser lights, United's new equation and its capacity to fight on four fronts will undergo a more thorough examination in the coming month, with diary date humdingers arriving faster than Nazeem Hamed on a test drive.
The matches against Spurs, Celtic, Arsenal and Benfica, have assumed greater significance given United's decision not to recruit further before the transfer deadline. A midfielder and possibly a striker were said to have been on United's wish list but Sir Alex was either unable or unwilling to sign the players he wanted.
His destiny is now in the hands of players who together finished second to Chelsea last season and took home the Carling Cup from Cardiff. Fans, who began the season despondent, have been cheered by the side's good form but still the doubts persist. Who will score the goals now that Ruud is not around?
Louis Saha, the primary beneficiary of Fergie's decision to cut loose the Dutchman, is not wholly convinced by Sir Alex's reasoning and broke ranks in a confession to Sky Sports. ‘When you lose a player capable of scoring 40 goals in one season, I don't think that giving him to Real Madrid is a good thing, ’ Saha said.
Saha might worry about the loss of Ruud but Sir Alex is fretting over failing to get Owen Hargreaves. The club’s pursuit of the England star and the wrangling with Bayern read like a Barbara Cartland script, with United and Hargreaves cast as doomed lovers and Uli Hoeness as the wicked, cold-hearted step father.
Bayern always insisted that Hargreaves would honour his four year contract but United gave little impression of having any other candidate in mind for the midfield apart from the 25 year old player. The hapless veteran Marcos Senna was cut adrift after weeks of waiting by his telephone, whilst United rejected the chance to sign Corinthian World Cup star Javier Maschereno.
It was Chief Executive David Gill, who dropped this particular grenade during an interview on BBC radio. 'We were offered Mascherano but we didn't want to go for him,' he said.
'We watched Mascherano throughout last season and he played at the World Cup. We were offered him at the start of the summer transfer window for a significant sum. The manager and his staff did not want to pursue that. We were also offered him towards the back end of last week in a loan-type deal for a year and again we were not interested in that.
‘The experts in our club determined that we did not want to go for him. While he is clearly a very good player, it was decided he wasn't required at the club. We were never interested in Tevez.'
In rejecting even a loan deal for the 22 year old Argentine defensive midfielder, whose performances in Germany had earned rave reviews and who is tipped to be a world star, Sir Alex put all his money on signing Hargreaves, at a time when his club were refusing to sell the player to United. Laughter or tears, it's your choice!
Meanwhile Mahamadou Diarra, the 25 year old Lyon midfield organiser, who unlike Hargreaves, has featured on every list of potential United midfield recruits for months, has quietly signed on at Real Madrid for £19 million.
The Times reported that: 'The closure of the transfer window was welcomed with a gnashing of teeth among many fans. United insist that there were significant funds available to Ferguson and that he chose “not to settle for second-best” after missing out on players such as Hargreaves and Torres.'
The Manchester United Supporters Trust is in no mood to agree unequivocally, ready as it is that the Glazer family be blamed. 'The Glazers promised an annual £25m in their business plan. This is the second season in a row under the Glazers where spending has fallen well short of the promised budget. In fact, United is the lowest PL net spender this summer - the club has made a profit of around £4m on transfers.
'The fans are right to feel let down that there has been only one new signing - but who's to blame for this? Some would say the embarrassing transfer shambles this summer is Gill and Ferguson's fault - the money was there but they failed to spend it. MUST believes there's another reason, which Gill and Ferguson are having to take the fall for. That the money for big signings just isn't there anymore.
‘The Glazers refinanced the club's debts earlier this summer. The fees owed to the banks and hedge funds for arranging this deal are thought to be around £35-40m which would have been payable immediately. The Glazers would have sent this bill to the club to pay from its cash flow, rather than dip into their own pockets. So, no transfer pot - the well is dry.'
With such a gloomy backdrop to autumn's arrival, it is good to know that Cristiano Ronaldo is in such excellent spirits these days. But can someone have a word and tell him: 'Oi! Ronaldo. Enough already?'
Clearly the Portuguese wonder has been advised that honey works better than vinegar and now cannot stop inviting journalists to record at length his 'happiness' with United. Last week, Ronaldo delivered a verbal bouquet of flowers to United's away support for chanting his name amid the insults of the home crowd.
This week, he was penning an ode to the Theatre of Dreams and the city of rain. 'I feel very happy,' he said. 'Manchester are the ideal club for me. It is true that I said one day I would like to play in Spain. But if that doesn't happen, it won't be a problem.'
How long will it take for problems to emerge once the combative Roy Keane settles in as Sunderland’s new manager? The United legend has already begun in forthright but surprisingly apologetic manner. 'We all make mistakes,' he said, claiming that his own errors had 'cost me a lot - probably cost me the World Cup in 2002 and you could say my [Manchester] United career. I have no doubt over the years I crossed that line. 'I haven't helped myself over the years with the image. I think that was part of my scene I had at United and maybe with Ireland, that I was football mad. But football means a hell of a lot to me. It was like an acting job, I used to feel that when I drove up to Old Trafford that I would turn into this kind of mean machine. When I was going to work or to games it was like going to war. That was the only way I could describe it.'
Will Keane be a success? Is the Sunderland job a stepping stone before he is anointed with the Old Trafford manager’s sheepskin? Will the north east club become something of a retirement home for faded United stars, outcasts, reserves and ex-coaches?
We will soon know more.
nsmith@absolutelyunited.com
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