SOCCER NEWS:ALEX FERGUSON has confirmed he intends to make three new signings this summer. It was always likely to be a time of change at Manchester United given Edwin van der Sar is due to follow Gary Neville into retirement and Paul Scholes has yet to confirm whether he will extend his career by a further season.
In addition, there are major doubts hanging over senior figures such as Michael Owen, Wes Brown and Owen Hargreaves.
And whilst youngsters Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley will be given their chance after impressing during loan spells with Sunderland and Wigan respectively, Ferguson realises he must bring in new blood.
“We have some ideas in mind,” the United manager told MUTV at the annual United’s awards ceremony at Old Trafford. “Hopefully we can get them put in place.
“We have Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes coming towards the end of their careers, Gary Neville has already retired and Edwin van der Sar is retiring, so there are holes we want to plug up in terms of the safety and security of the team for the next few years.
“Of course, we have some excellent young players and a lot of them have progressed, which gives us a great, powerful squad. I am looking at maybe three signings which would boost our overall quality in our team.”
United have been heavily linked with Atletico Madrid’s 20-year-old keeper David De Gea, although it would go against Fergusons preference for a goalkeeper with great experience.
Aston Villa’s Ashley Young has long been viewed as a potential United target, although more latterly Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder has come into the reckoning. The Dutch World Cup finalist would be an obvious replacement for Scholes, whom chief executive David Gill admitted last weekend might opt to call time on his stellar career after the Champions League final with Barcelona at Wembley on May 28th.
Meanwhile, Ferguson fears that giving up football will harm his prospects of enjoying a long life.
The Manchester United manager is basking in the glory of his club achieving a record 19th title.
And the 69-year-old’s enthusiasm shows no sign of waning as they prepare to bring the curtain down on the domestic season on Sunday when they face Blackpool at Old Trafford. “I have no plans to retire, I must say that and (my wife) Cathy is delighted. She would have thrown me out, ” he said. “The salient point is that whilst my health is good, carry on. You hear many stories of people who come off the treadmill and their system breaks down. I don’t want that happening to me.”
United also have the Champions League final to look forward to with Ferguson aiming to lift the trophy for a third time in his career following a late, late victory against Bayern Munich in 1999 and the 2008 triumph over Chelsea via a penalty shootout.
He admits he already has an idea of his side to face Barcelona on May 28th at Wembley.
Ferguson said: “We have the nucleus of a team in place. There are others that deserve a place. But we can only pick 11. That is the horrible part of being a manager. It is absolute agony. It is something you don’t relish at all. I have to pick a team and I have to leave some very good players out.”
ONLINE ARGY FOLLOW WITH CARE
MANCHESTER United striker Wayne Rooney warned a Twitter follower “I’ll put u asleep within 10 seconds” as he became involved in an online altercation.
The England international came in for late-night abuse from the follower who taunted him: “Rooney ya fat w***e ill smash ya head in with a pitchin wedge an bury ya with a ballast fork ya fat ugly lil n***e.”
Rooney dared the follower to meet him at United’s training ground to carry out his threat, and replied: “I will put u asleep within 10 seconds hope u turn up if u don’t gonna tell everyone ur scared u little nit. I’ll be waiting.”
The 25-year-old United frontman then looked to defuse the situation by tweeting: “Haha bit of banter and people go nuts chill all people.”
The Twitter account belonging to the follower who taunted Rooney has since been deleted.
