Cheer Up Alan Smith …
Striker Alan Smith has repeated his commitment to United and left no doubt that he intends to fight for his first team future.
“I am not leaving, it is as simple as that,” he confirmed. “There has been a lot of speculation but I am going nowhere. I feel I am good enough to play in this team, I have always believed that. That is why I signed.”
Just three months ago, Sir Alex wanted to loan the player to Cardiff. Smith refused the switch and now claims he can be part of United’s charge for honours.
“I am sure the boss thought it was in the best interests of both myself and the club,” he added. “However, I told him I believed I was good enough to play in his team when I am fit and he accepted that.
“There would have been nothing worse for me than to leave and be somewhere else when we were short on strikers. I don’t want to be on loan somewhere else and miss the games coming up when I feel I can be an important part of this squad.”
Smith should be encouraged by the positive talk coming from Sir Alex, who values the Yorkshireman’s strength and commitment in much the same way as the many Premiership managers who are reputedly poised to snap up the player should United decide to sell.
Ferguson’s support is essential to Smith’s survival. So too perhaps, is the parlous state of United’s finances which could make Smith’s stay at Old Trafford more likely.
United are expected to bring in Owen Hargreaves next summer, completing a year-long, very public chase for the defensive midfield shield. United’s line-up next season, barring a seismic shock, will feature Carrick and Hargreaves as a defensive midfield pair with Scholes freed to be the play-maker higher up the field, linking defence and attack.
With Ronaldo and Rooney on the flanks, United will need just one more attacker. Louis Saha has done enough to earn another year. It hardly requires a leap of faith to imagine the manager spurning a Torres or a Huntelaar in the belief that Smith, the returning Rossi and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in his last year, are adequate striking options.
United will be linked with a host of top players during the close season. The manager and Chief Executive David Gill, will no doubt play the nudge, nudge, wink, wink game of every transfer window. But the new formation should give fans little reason to expect the arrival of a world class forward.
United could of course, off-load Smith and use the proceeds to fund a bid for a high quality replacement. That seems unlikely. United might struggle to recoup the £7 million spent on Smith’s capture in 2004. Moreover, the chances of adding an expensive attacker to the squad are hampered by the unforgiving nature of United’s debt. Judging by the Glazer family’s track record so far, a near £20 million outlay on Hargreaves would be all the club dare spend without the forfeit of current personnel. Only the sales of squad players such as Gabriel Heinze, Wes Brown, Darren Fletcher or Kieran Richardson, could alter United’s end of season arithmetic.
Sir Alex may well have another tactical set-up in mind, that allows United to continue with the 4-4-2 system which has delivered so much success this past year. Indeed, the manager may only intend the new formation to be temporary, with Carrick eventually stepping into the Scholes role, as the United stalwart moves closer to retirement.
However, the team-plan on show in European games, the manager’s Hargreaves obsession, the keenness to extend Scholes’ contribution to the team and an unwillingness to jettison Michael Carrick, point immediately to 4-3-3, for better or for worse.
So, cheer up Alan Smith. The gods, at least for now, are smiling upon you. AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2007
