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Sky: Louis Saha’s agents are to hold talks with Sir Alex Ferguson regarding the Manchester United striker’s future, according to reports in France.
France Football has reported that Saha’s representatives will travel to England next week to meet with the United boss, amid uncertainty over his Old Trafford future.
Saha has been hit by a number of injuries this season and has been able to play little part in the run-in to United’s campaign.
He had a thigh injury two months ago and allegedly returned to France to receive treatment without informing Ferguson.
Speculation in France suggests Ferguson has become increasingly frustrated by Saha’s injury problems, and that the relationship between player and manager has deteriorated.
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Sun: RYAN GIGGS has warned younger team-mates to ignore mind games coming out of Stamford Bridge.
Jose Mourinho has ranted about Manchester United having power over the Premier League with fixtures and times.
He also claimed the FA had changed the rules to stop penalties being given against United.
But Giggs ignores it all and has told the other Reds to do the same.
He said: “I’ve learned down the years to block out the title race hype. You have to be mentally strong and not take in what opposition managers and players say.
“It becomes easier to deal with the older and more experienced you get. As one of the senior players I try and pass that on to the younger lads if I can.”
Another message from Giggs, 33, is that his side can forget about the fancy football for now if it means winning games.
He said: “It’s not always possible to play great football every week, so not playing well and winning can make all the difference, especially at this stage of the season.
“There is a lot of pressure come April and May and the more tense it gets the less likely you are to have high-scoring wins. All the matches will be tight and you need to try and keep your nerve.”
United boss Alex Ferguson has confirmed Nemanja Vidic could be fit for their Champions League semi-final return in Milan on Wednesday.
SunSport revealed on Thursday that Vidic was well ahead of schedule after injuring an shoulder.
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SUN: PHIL NEVILLE comes up against the player he rates as the best footballer he has ever seen today - with the sole intention of destroying his dream.
The Everton skipper will be pitted against his old friend Ryan Giggs when he faces former club Manchester United at Goodison Park afternoon.
And Neville believes the winger is simply the best there has ever been at Old Trafford.
The England international is still in awe of his ex-team-mate, despite playing almost 400 games alongside him, and winning six Premier League titles, three FA Cups and a Champions League winners’ medal in the same United side.
Giggs has been outstanding this season, and Neville believes he now deserves to be recognised as the United legend his record suggests.
The versatile Everton mainstay insists there is nobody to touch the quiet lad from Salford who came through the ranks at Old Trafford to smash just about every United record.
Neville said: “Giggsy is the best player I’ve ever played with. There have been some greats, Roy Keane and Eric Cantona, but Ryan is the best.
“He has been the shining example of how to live your life right, and how to prepare for games. And he is still getting better, still learning, which is incredible.
“He’s had a fantastic season and adapted his game, because he is playing in a more central role. He is still improving, which says a lot about him.”
Neville believes his close friend from their days as youth team players has been such a massive success, because he has never let the stardom that came his way, obscure his football ambitions. Giggs was the original pin-up idol at United before David Beckham came along, but he shunned the limelight and followed the path of the model professional to concentrate solely on his career.
Neville added: “He has led his life the right way and kept the same friends that he had at school. He’s done everything perfectly.
“He is an example, because he has done things in the right way. That’s why he is still playing at the top level and Manchester United are looking for more honours.”
But if there is genuine admiration for the winger from the Toffees captain, that is where the affection for United will stop this afternoon.
Everton are intent on securing a UEFA Cup spot, and if that means shattering United’s Treble dream, then sentiment will simply not come into it as far as Neville his concerned.
The 30-year-old said: “I’m an Everton player now and just focused on getting the right result this week.
“We are looking at finishing in a European place and that is my only focus. We want to win, but after that I will be supporting them and hoping they win the title.”
The key for Everton could be the fitness of striker Andy Johnson, who is struggling with an ankle strain.
The England striker faces a race to be ready for the visit of United, and manager David Moyes is giving his star forward the longest possible chance before he names his side.
Should Johnson not play, there could be a surprise consolation. Teenage forward James Vaughan is pushing for a recall after an extraordinary recovery from a severed artery in his left ankle.
The 18-year-old has resumed training, with Moyes hoping that, if the youngster can play, it will be alongside Johnson.
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Mirror: JOURNALISTS are trained vultures, paid to pick up ideas and pass them off as original thought. But sometimes, everything you want to say about a subject is so perfectly summed up by somebody else, it would be a crime to claim ownership.
Like this email from reader Peter Day of Doncaster about Manchester United’s decision to put their season ticket prices up by 14 per cent.
“The attitude is cynical beyond belief. The well-off fans will meet the hike, and the board know it. And if they don’t they’ll just turn to those on the waiting list with enough money.
“So once again the poorest in society are forced out of a game which they invented to provide entertainment for workers after hard toil in the factories and mills. A sport the working class turned into the greatest in the world, which turned on them and said they didn’t want their type round here any more.”
Do we sell many copies of the Daily Mirror in Florida?
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Sun: ERIC CANTONA amazingly revealed he planned a comeback earlier this season — at 40.
The Manchester United legend shocked Old Trafford by quitting 10 years ago with his bizarre statement about ‘seagulls following the trawler’.
But he believed his footballing genius would allow him to emulate ageing greats like Paolo Maldini and Teddy Sheringham.
And the striker, voted United’s greatest ever player, shed almost two stone in a dedicated effort to reach his 1997 playing weight.
He said: “It was six months ago I realised even by training for eight solid weeks my dream of returning wasn’t possible.
“What I discovered was that I didn’t have the fire any more.”
As for his exit, Cantona said: “If we had won the European Cup I might have continued but I was fed up.
“There was too much merchandising, too much of ‘We need you for this interview, this book’. Those things destroyed me, it’s sad.”
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Mail: He accepted the challenge and has recreated the magic. Cristiano Ronaldo is a true Manchester United No 7.
George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham all became United icons before him. Now Ronaldo is the new Old Trafford talisman.
“I’ve seen Beckham and Cantona — and films of George Best. Now I, too, have the No 7 and I will do my best to become a great player like those players from the past,” he says.
“All the ones you’ve mentioned were entertaining players, like me, and perhaps there’s a certain spirit about the jersey. The No 7 shirt is a legend’s shirt at Manchester United, especially.”
Can the double award-winning PFA Player of the Year, scorer of 24 goals this season, become the greatest of them all? Having recently signed a five-year contract, Ronaldo is at home on the Old Trafford stage.
“Before I came, I knew it was a big club, one of the best in the world. Everybody, more or less, knows Man United, even those who don’t follow football. Being the first Portuguese to play for them is a big honour.
This is a club where you can grow as a footballer, reach as high a level as you want to.
“The manager encourages young players, Sir Alex has helped me a lot, supporting me through some difficult times. I think he’s a very human person, very sincere.”
Honoured by his fellow professionals, Ronaldo’s growing popularity is all the more remarkable given his part in Wayne Rooney’s World Cup red card, as well as his theatrical introduction into English football.
Now just about everyone outside of Middlesbrough has forgiven him. He accepts: “In Portugal, the football is quite different, more technical.
“People want to play football. Here it’s more physical, more confrontational. People just tackle you hard if you try to play football.
“I remember in the first year, I was criticised for going to the floor too easily. That was an area of my game I had to change quite fast. It was, perhaps, the biggest lesson I’ve learned in England. It’s a different type of game in Portugal. But the rules should be the same. If it’s a free-kick the referee should give a free-kick. But here, referees choose to ignore fouls a lot of the time.”
Asked if he tries to cheat when he goes to ground, Ronaldo responded: “No. There’s a different mentality here, and it’s not just the players, but the referees, too.
“Although there are some English players who are very technical, you don’t have many. Portuguese or Spanish or Brazilian football is more technical.
“But I’m not going to stop trying to beat defenders in England. I have to be myself. Just because the referee doesn’t give a free-kick or chooses not to send off someone who deserves it, doesn’t mean I should become another player. I’ll always take people on, it’s my identity.
“But the referees here tend to favour defenders, because they get to tackle a lot without getting a yellow card. It’s very difficult for a defender in England to get sent off by collecting two yellow cards.
“I think the referees should protect the attackers more, not only me, not only wingers, but strikers as well. If it’s a dirty tackle or a harsh tackle, the ref should give a yellow card right away. But they don’t, they’re often told, ‘Next time it’ s a booking’.”
Ronaldo says: “I was born with my ability. The stepover, for example, is something I did as soon as I started in my first teams. I used to play football on the street when I was a boy, and every day I tried to do different things.
“I always tried to invent new dribbles, new moves. Things would come into my mind and I’d try them. I think this attitude stayed. I always looked to have my own identity. That was my dream.
“The tricks came with me. I didn’t watch football on television. But, of course, other players inspire you. I used to go to watch my cousins and brothers, and sometimes I would try and do the same things as them. My father was a kit man for the local club; I was always with him, watching the matches.
He added: “I wasn’t always big. Even when I left Madeira at 13 I remember people saying I couldn’t become a professional because I was too short. Then, suddenly, between 15 and 18 I jumped up and became as tall as I am now.
“But in the days playing in the street, it was always against older, much bigger, boys. I suffered because I had good ability and I dribbled a lot, suddenly I’d be pushed or tackled hard and I was out of the game. Sometimes when I tricked them, they didn’t like it. They beat me sometimes.
“But it never stopped me being the player I am. I’ve always had a strong personality, because when a defender tackles you hard or challenges you mentally, you can’t show weakness. You have to try and get over it and beat them with the ball.” Ronaldo has more end-product to his skills now, too. “Nowadays it doesn’t matter what tricks I do, they have to be of use to the team.
“If you want to be one of the best players in the world, which I want to, you have to learn all the time. Another thing I have to do is finish better and get more goals. If you are a good scorer people see you in a different dimension. In a couple of years, if I’m scoring more, people will think better of me.”
It seems that process is already under way.
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Sky: Rio Ferdinand is expected to figure in the second leg against Milan, while Sir Alex Ferguson will make a late decision on Nemanja Vidic.
Manchester United have encountered a defensive injury crisis in recent weeks, with four senior stoppers struck down by fitness issues.
Ferdinand is the least serious of the quartet due to a slight groin problem and he could be fit to tackle Milan in the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg next Wednesday.
He will sit out Saturday’s Premiership game at Everton, but Ferguson remains optimistic about the centre-half’s chances of travelling to the San Siro.
“Rio won’t play tomorrow, but hopefully he will be okay for Wednesday,” said Ferguson.
Vidic returned to training at the start of the week after suffering a dislocated shoulder against Blackburn Rovers at the end of March.
The Serbian hard man will undergo a scan on Monday, leaving Ferguson to ponder about gambling on Vidic against Milan.
Ferguson added: “Nemanja has been training really well.
“He has a scan on Monday and once we get the results of that, we have a decision to make.”
Mikael Silvestre is out for the season, but captain Gary Neville is showing improvement in his recovery from an ankle injury.
“There is an improvement,” said Ferguson of the full-back.
“I don’t know if we have done too much because he got some swelling on the injury.
“But we gave him a special boot to wear and the swelling has gone down. Now we just have to map out the right recovery for him.”
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Sporting Life: AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti admits Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo have improved considerably since the 2005 meetings with Manchester United in the Champions League.
Next Wednesday AC Milan will look to overturn United’s 3-2 first-leg lead when they play their second-leg Champions League semi-final with United at the San Siro.
The Italian side’s coach believes Ronaldo and Rooney have made giant strides since Milan eliminated United from the 2005 competition.
Ancelotti said: “Manchester United are clearly better than they were two years ago and are so much stronger up front, Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are more experienced and more efficient.
“Before the game I would have settled for a 3-2 defeat (at Old Trafford) which is no bad result but there remains a little regret at how the result came about.”
Milan had led 2-1 with goals from Kaka after Cristiano Ronaldo had given United the lead.
Two goals from Rooney including a last-gasp winner then turned the match around.
Ancelotti claimed, however, that his midfield was as good as any in the world with Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Massimo Ambrosini and Clarence Seedorf all impressing.
Asked about Gattuso, Ancelotti said: “I would not change him or our whole midfield for any other team. They are all players who have great maturity.”
Ancelotti believes English football can teach a lot to Italy in terms of atmosphere.
Asked if he would like to coach in England, the coach said: “I don’t think so. I would rule nothing out but what I would really like to see is a good atmosphere in Italy like there is in English football.”
Ancelotti compared his 25-year-old playmaker Kaka favourably to Ronaldo and even Zinedine Zidane, whom he coached at Juventus.
The coach said: “He (Kaka) must show on Wednesday he is the best - Cristiano Ronaldo shows great skill at high speed but what makes Kaka unique is how efficient he is.
“My main criticism of Zidane was that he did not always convert his talent into goals, maybe that’s the difference. Zidane was superb but Kaka gets more goals.”
Ancelotti revealed he will rest many top players for this weekend’s Serie A game with Torino in order to keep them fresh for Wednesday’s return with United.
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Telegraph: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has called on the football authorities to punish Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho for waging a “war” on referees.
The Chelsea manager yesterday said United winger Cristiano Ronaldo was a “liar” for disputing his claims that referees were favouring United in penalty decisions.
Speaking ahead of his team’s Premiership match against Everton tomorrow, Ferguson said: “I am surprised no action has been taken against him. He just seems to go on, and on, and on.
“Jose Mourinho seems to be on some sort of personal crusade about regulations and honesty and suspicion in the game.
“Everyone is entitled to have a comment or opinion. Ronaldo has an opinion. That doesn’t mean to say he is a liar.
“He is on about us changing the regulations. I would like to know who is doing it? Is it us? The FA? The Premier League? Uefa? I really feel he has been let off lightly with those comments.”
Ferguson said Mourinho made calculated statements aimed at increasing the pressure on match officials.
“He is saying our game is suspicious. [Yet] he has abused Barcelona in the past, he has abused a Swedish referee (Anders Frisk). He put the German referee (Markus Merk) under pressure the other night. He insulted Liverpool, a club with a great history, by suggested their players were going to hunt down Didier Drogba to get him booked.
“Jesus, God. It is a rant all the time now. I don’t think it is fair to the game.
Ferguson said he had genuine reasons for complaint of his own, although he insisted there was no question of the United pursuing the matter.
“Maybe he forgets he is not at Porto now,” said Ferguson.
“We all get good and bad decisions. Does he remember the goal Paul Scholes had disallowed for offside when we played against Porto in the European Cup?
“We didn’t like it and we complained. But we didn’t go to war on it.
“Or should he be pointing to the fact Tottenham were forced to play on an Easter Saturday morning, a day and a half after their previous game, to allow Chelsea to rest before their European tie?
“We have to play Manchester City at 12.45 on a Saturday after a European tie in Milan next Wednesday. Is that fair? We don’t think so but we are not going to start accusing the Premier League of carving things up with Chelsea.”
“The thing is Jose is a very clever man. In some people’s eyes he is a hero. I don’t know who is a villain and who is a hero.
“The biggest fear for us is that by citing the fact we are not allowed to get penalties at Old Trafford - and we have had three against us this year and there have been none at Stamford Bridge - it puts a terrible pressure on the referees.
“It is a calculated move. We have four games to go now. If we get a penalty kick against us in that time, Mourinho wins that war. That is wrong.”
