6/5: Latest News …
Sky: The Premier League has confirmed neither Manchester United or Everton have broken any rules regarding Tim Howard’s transfer.
Howard joined Everton on a season-long loan deal last summer, before the move became permanent in February.
Questions were raised over the transfer when Howard did not feature against United in the recent clash between the two sides at Goodison Park.
The League contacted the two clubs to find out why the American goalkeeper was not involved as it would not have allowed the deal to be made permanent if United had requested a clause preventing Howard from playing against them.
However, after investigating the matter the League has cleared both clubs of any wrongdoing.
A statement from the Premier League said: “At the time of Tim Howard’s permanent transfer from Manchester United to Everton, the Premier League ensured there were no agreements in place that contravened our rules.
“As a result of recent comments we had sought further clarification from both clubs and are satisfied that it remains the case that there were no agreements that breached any of our rules.
“Everton were free to play Tim Howard in their fixture against Manchester United had they so wished - and this has been confirmed by both clubs.”
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Sky: Chelsea ace Joe Cole regards Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world.
Cole is set to come up against Ronaldo next week when Manchester United make the trip to Chelsea in a game which could still decide the Premiership title.
Ronaldo has enjoyed a superb season for United and he has completed a clean sweep of the individual player awards this term.
Cole is a big fan of the Portuguese international and he has acknowledged his impact this term.
“If you ask who is the best player in the world at the moment it has to be Cristiano Ronaldo,” Cole told the Daily Star Sunday.
“He has come on so much and is proving to be a top, top player, week in, week out for United.
“Last year it was Ronaldinho but it changes all the time.
“Only Zinedine Zidane has proved he is the best over a period of years.
“It will be interesting to see if Ronaldo can do the same.”
Cole is also a big admirer of Ronaldo’s team-mate Paul Scholes who he regards as one of the best players he has ever played alongside.
“I’d say it has to be between Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard, who are both brilliant footballers,” said Cole, when asked to name the best player he has played with.
“For technical skills, Scholesy is top. He’s a supremely talented player.”
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Sky: Jean-Michel Aulas has hinted Lyon would be interested in signing Manchester United striker Louis Saha.
Reports have claimed that the French champions have lined up Saha as a potential summer recruit.
Lyon are keen to bring in more firepower at the end of the season and appear to hold an interest in Saha.
Speaking to the French media after his side’s 1-1 draw at Paris Saint Germain on Saturday, Aulas conceded the former Metz attacker is an option.
“He is a good player,” said the Lyon president.
“All the players of the French team who play abroad interest us.”
Saha joined United in a £12.8million deal from Fulham over three years ago, but has endured an injury-plagued career at Old Trafford.
Though he has a fair scoring record for the Premiership leaders - netting 13 times this season - his fitness is reputed to be a concern for Sir Alex Ferguson.
The 28-year-old has made just three substitute appearances in the past two months due to a hamstring problem and could be allowed to move on in the summer.
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Sporting Life: Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre insists that he enjoys Alex Ferguson’s full confidence and will remain at the club next season.
Silvestre has been at Old Trafford since joining from Inter Milan in 1999 but has found it hard to dislodge Patrice Evra and Gabriel Heinze this season.
But with the Argentina defender linked with a move away from the club in the summer, the France defender could come back into the first-team picture next year.
Silvestre, 29, is currently out of action with a shoulder injury but the Daily Star Sunday: “I still have two years on my contract and the manager did everything to keep me here last summer.
“He even told me recently he still has confidence in me so I can confirm that I will be in Manchester next year.”
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Times: SIR ALEX FERGUSON was on the golf course when he won the Premiership for the first time. He was on the 17th green at Mottram Hall with his son Mark when a stranger rushed over, announcing that Aston Villa had failed to beat Oldham and the 1992-93 title was Manchester United’s.
The last time United became champions, in 2002-3, Ferguson capered at his young granddaughter’s birthday party while Arsenal’s challenge was dying against Leeds. Worrying overly about what his rivals are doing was never his thing. Rather than watch Arsenal against Chelsea on television, Ferguson will, flights permitting, be in Spain today to take in Real Zaragoza versus Racing Santander.
Gerard Pique, the young defender United have loaned to Zaragoza, is up against Nikola Zigic, Santander’s 6ft 7in Serb, and it is a good opportunity for Ferguson to see whether his boy has truly become a man. Pique has impressed during a season in La Liga, playing most of Zaragoza’s games and scoring in a cup victory over Barcelona.
He is 20 and Ferguson wants him back at Old Trafford for 2007-8. With faith in Gabriel Henize and Mikael Silvestre diminished, there is an opportunity for somebody new to challenge Wes Brown as cover for Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Pique and another loaned-out United youngster, 19-year-old Jonny Evans of Sunderland, will be invited to apply for the vacancy.
It is typical of Ferguson that with a ninth title beckoning, he has started plotting winning a 10th. Arsenal, with their kids, are talked about as “the future”, but United look set for glory far beyond the here and now. The average age (27.4) of Ferguson’s regular first XI this season is only one year older than Arsène Wenger’s (26.4), despite the venerable nature of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
For next season Ben Foster, 24, will return from loan at Watford and may replace 36-year-old Edwin van der Sar in goal, and when Ferguson completes the long-awaited signing of Owen Hargreaves, 26, he will add further youth to the ranks. Another target, 18-year-old Micah Richards, is sufficiently enticed by Ferguson’s interest to risk the political ramifications of moving to United from Manchester City.
Louis Saha’s susceptibility to injuries has tired Ferguson and should he move for a new striker it will be for a youngish player, such as Fernando Torres, Dimitar Berbatov or Samuel Eto’o. Expressing his desire to “draw a line” under his spat with Jose Mourinho over Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferguson said of United’s visit to Stamford Bridge: “If I’m invited for a glass of wine with him, of course I’ll attend, because I don’t think this has damaged our relationship. We all have our opinions. Football should be a challenge between groups of players, but with Jose’s continual – how should I put it? – ‘dialogue’, sometimes, as a manager, you quite enjoy having a go back.”
Ferguson expects Chelsea to spend big again over the summer. Although none of United’s targets would come cheap, progressing young talents continues to be Ferguson’s preferred way of reaching success and the quality/age equation of his resources gives him every chance of building something lasting.
Paul McGuinness’s under18 side has Ferguson smacking his lips. The youngsters surprised the manager by making the final of the FA Youth Cup, where they took Liverpool, the holders, all the way to penalties, despite featuring several 16-and 17-year-olds.
Then there are Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo, 21 and 22. So grey were some of Rooney’s performances in early season that he was beginning to look washed out, but recent weeks have seen colour return to the most vivid English talent of two generations. His slump appears no more than growing pains, exacerbated by the lingering effects of his metatarsal injury.
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Sunday Times: To his eternal credit, Ferguson has now built four different teams since he succeeded Ron Atkinson in November 1986, with United 20th in the table, and he has won the league with each of them (assuming there are no farfetched slip-ups this time). The manager has always had a soft spot, and he doesn’t have many of those, for the team that did the league and FA Cup Double in 1993-94, with the peerless Peter Schmeichel in goal, Paul Parker and Denis Irwin at full-back either side of Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister, the boiler room staffed by Paul Ince and Roy Keane and two flying wingers, Andrei Kanchelskis and Ryan Giggs, servicing Eric Cantona and Mark Hughes.
That is probably still his favourite lineup today, despite the “you win nothing with kids” triumph of 1995-96 and the historic events of 1998-99, when United did the Double again and added the European Cup for good measure. Schmeichel, Irwin, Keane and Giggs were still around then, but Gary Neville, Jaap Stam and Ronnie Johnsen had taken over at the back, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt had emerged in midfield and the preferred strikers were Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, backed up by Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Fast forward. How does the present team compare with the alumni of 1994, 1996 and 1999? Not as favourably as some would like to think. Edwin Van der Sar is no Schmeichel - indeed his unreliability of late could see him displaced next season by England’s Ben Foster, who is being recalled from his loan spell at Watford. Neville is as good as ever and today’s centre-backs, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, have it in them to equal, if not surpass, the Bruce-Pallister partnership of fond memory.
It is further forward that the current team are found wanting. In midfield, as was all too aparent in the San Siro, there is no Keane to drive, cajole and lift the rest. In 1999, United were trailing 3-1 on aggregate to Juventus in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final in Turin when the inspirational Irishman ran up the skull and crossbones, swashbuckled the Italians to a standstill and emerged victorious through sheer force of personality. Last Wednesday, in similar circumstances, there was nobody to do the same. Keane, we can be sure, would never have allowed Gennaro Gattuso to dictate so decisively.
Scholes and Giggs are still around from 1999, and playing just about as well as ever, but aged 32 and 33 respectively they are increasingly prey to fatigue, which undermined them in midweek. Which brings us to the footballer of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo. The much-hyped “head to head” between Portugal’s finest and Milan’s Kaka was a one-sided nonevent, and our more impetuous pundits are premature in hailing Ronaldo as the best player in the world.
There is optimistic talk of another “golden generation” emerging from the youth team, runners-up in the Youth Cup this year, but don’t hold your breath: nobody from United’s last Youth Cup-winning side, in 2003, commands a place in the first team. No matter, the seniors may well suffice for another year in the Premiership. The European Cup, however, remains Ferguson’s key to everlasting glory.
