Fergie's striker hunt
23/10/02 3:14 PM
Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he has been given the green light to sign a new striker when the transfer window opens in January.
The Reds are down to three main strikers, with Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs currently being asked to fill in until Fergie gets up to his regular quartet of forward men. And the Boss has admitted he may bring in a hitman solely to play in the Premiership.
"The only thing is to buy for the league alone because we are a bit light in that department," said Fergie ahead of the Olympiakos game.
"If you look down the list of top strikers, they have all played European football."
The manager's quandry now is just who to go for when the transfer window opens on 1 January. Assuming that no player will leave a club that is still in the Champions League to play purely domestic football for United, Sir Alex's options would seem to be limited to a handful of clubs who look like crashing out of the Champions League at the first stage.
Bayern Munich are the prime candidates, hanging as they are by their fingernails onto their Champions League lives. If they were to crash out of the competition, then Giovane Elber (who is rather well known by United fans), Claudio Pizarro, Alexander Zickler and Roque Santa Cruz may attract Fergie's attention. They wouldn't be allowed to play any part in the Reds' European campaign, but could ensure United qualify for the UEFA competition next season by scoring Premiership goals.
Their Bundesliga colleagues Bayer Leverkusen are bottom of United's group, and a couple more defeats would finish off their hopes of reaching a second consecutive final. If they are knocked out at the first time of asking then Ulf Kirsten, Dmitar Berbatov and Oliver Neuville would fit Fergie's criteria. With no European interest and with Leverkusen struggling in the League, the club may not be able to hold onto their prized assets.
Likewise Auxerre, who despite their 2-1 win over Arsenal on Tuesday night are still three points adrift of the second qualifying place in Group A. Their young striker Djibril Cisse has been linked with moves to United in the past, and if the French club drop out of Europe, then it may be time for Fergie to pounce. He's currently injured, but should be back in action by December.
Italian giants Roma are another club whose place in the second group phase is far from assured. With five points from four games so far, they could easily be overtaken by AEK Athens, leaving Vincenzo Montella, Francesco Totti, Marco Delvecchio and Gabriel Batistuta up for grabs, although Sir Alex replied to the Batigol rumour with a smiling "no" over the summer.
Other candidates for a move to Manchester could be PSV Eindhoven's Mateja Kezman, or Dagri Bakari of Lens.
But if the manager were to look closer to home then he may find someone would is not European Cup-tied, and could play in all competitions for the Reds. Sir Alex went in for Paolo di Canio last season, and with the Italian seeking assurances over his future from West Ham, January could be a prime time to pluck him from Upton Park.
So who will the manager go for? We'll have to wait until next year to find out, but mulling over the names above should keep us going until then!
Report by Simon Davies.
This is what was reported in the official site. Some interesting names there.
23/10/02 3:14 PM
Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he has been given the green light to sign a new striker when the transfer window opens in January.
The Reds are down to three main strikers, with Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs currently being asked to fill in until Fergie gets up to his regular quartet of forward men. And the Boss has admitted he may bring in a hitman solely to play in the Premiership.
"The only thing is to buy for the league alone because we are a bit light in that department," said Fergie ahead of the Olympiakos game.
"If you look down the list of top strikers, they have all played European football."
The manager's quandry now is just who to go for when the transfer window opens on 1 January. Assuming that no player will leave a club that is still in the Champions League to play purely domestic football for United, Sir Alex's options would seem to be limited to a handful of clubs who look like crashing out of the Champions League at the first stage.
Bayern Munich are the prime candidates, hanging as they are by their fingernails onto their Champions League lives. If they were to crash out of the competition, then Giovane Elber (who is rather well known by United fans), Claudio Pizarro, Alexander Zickler and Roque Santa Cruz may attract Fergie's attention. They wouldn't be allowed to play any part in the Reds' European campaign, but could ensure United qualify for the UEFA competition next season by scoring Premiership goals.
Their Bundesliga colleagues Bayer Leverkusen are bottom of United's group, and a couple more defeats would finish off their hopes of reaching a second consecutive final. If they are knocked out at the first time of asking then Ulf Kirsten, Dmitar Berbatov and Oliver Neuville would fit Fergie's criteria. With no European interest and with Leverkusen struggling in the League, the club may not be able to hold onto their prized assets.
Likewise Auxerre, who despite their 2-1 win over Arsenal on Tuesday night are still three points adrift of the second qualifying place in Group A. Their young striker Djibril Cisse has been linked with moves to United in the past, and if the French club drop out of Europe, then it may be time for Fergie to pounce. He's currently injured, but should be back in action by December.
Italian giants Roma are another club whose place in the second group phase is far from assured. With five points from four games so far, they could easily be overtaken by AEK Athens, leaving Vincenzo Montella, Francesco Totti, Marco Delvecchio and Gabriel Batistuta up for grabs, although Sir Alex replied to the Batigol rumour with a smiling "no" over the summer.
Other candidates for a move to Manchester could be PSV Eindhoven's Mateja Kezman, or Dagri Bakari of Lens.
But if the manager were to look closer to home then he may find someone would is not European Cup-tied, and could play in all competitions for the Reds. Sir Alex went in for Paolo di Canio last season, and with the Italian seeking assurances over his future from West Ham, January could be a prime time to pluck him from Upton Park.
So who will the manager go for? We'll have to wait until next year to find out, but mulling over the names above should keep us going until then!
Report by Simon Davies.
This is what was reported in the official site. Some interesting names there.
