No Dong, No!
Red youngsters might now be wondering what the New Year holds after Sir Alex signalled the end of his big squad dream.
“It was a shock to us,” said Ferguson, reflecting on United’s League Cup loss to Coventry. “But the one thing that perhaps mitigated it was the fact that they’ve not had enough football as a team.
“We looked at the League Cup as an opportunity for these players to play. Now that has gone, [they] are going to have to go out on loan. There are one or two we will have to keep but I’m looking at the rest going out because, otherwise, when are they going to get any football?”
“With (Gary) Neville and (Owen) Hargreaves coming back we’ve got a good strong squad. There’ll have to be some that we have to keep. Pique was excellent on Wednesday. He was our best player along with Anderson. We’ll probably keep Simpson as he can play both full-back positions. But I’m maybe looking at the rest going on loan as they need to play football.”
The manager’s change of tune is a far cry from the frequent trumpets Ferguson has volunteered over recent months in favour of the rising young players. It was not so long ago that United were reeling from the ‘Dad’s Army’ tag, a jibe that may have encouraged Sir Alex to rejuvenate his squad.
Speaking of his young stars last February, the manager explained: “You can appease them by putting them on loan for a spell. But once they have had that loan period, they don’t want to be on loan forever. They want to come back and get into the first team.
“The question is, how do we view them in terms of first-team positions next season if we decided to bring them on at the same time? I think we will probably do that.
“That will be a challenge for them then, but also a reminder to everyone else that there are players looking to take their position.”
The reminder looked far less threatening in midweek and now Fergie’s plans for his younger players may be at a crossroads. Whilst some fans might be concerned to see Northern Ireland international Jonny Evans going out on loan, given the injury to Mikael Silvestre and the loss of Gabriel Heinze, there will be few tears outside the boardroom if China internal Dong Fangzhou were to be sent away to learn the football trade elsewhere.
This is all the more alarming as it would reduce United’s striking options still further. Saha and Rooney are still working their way back from injury. Tevez is plainly not a RVN-type goal-scorer and the champions of Frazier Campbell are suddenly ducking for cover after the midweek humiliation. The whispers about Anderson hardly encourage either.
Yet from Sir Alex own lips, a bizarre situation may soon present itself. United signed Dong in 2004 and then loaned him for two years to a Belgian feeder club. When his UK registration was sorted out, the striker was handed a three year contract, given a squad place and a couple of first-team try outs. Now after stinking worse than last year’s fish on a summer’s day, Dong could be loaned out again to a team playing Championship football. Is Dong the striking equivalent of Phil Bardsley?
This farce has to stop. Quite simply, the player has done little to convince. If he cannot be trusted and isn’t good enough to compete for a place in the first team now or in the immediate future, he shouldn’t be in the squad. It is time for United to admit their mistake and bring this needless sideshow to an end. Neither club nor player is benefitting and United’s reputation risks being dragged down by the lingering suspicion that Dong is no more than a marketing gimmick for the conquest of Asia.
Sir Alex has waved goodbye to a number of players, Giuseppe Rossi being a prime example, who are head and shoulders above Dong. Sometimes, if it has bells on it and brays as it moves through the sand, it really is a seaside donkey. The economics and the sentiment might pull the other way but common sense says no Dong, no!
READ: The Dong File
