Fergie rules out defender swoop

January 01, 2010

SIR Alex Ferguson has ruled out the possibility of making major additions to his Manchester United squad during the January transfer window.

At the depth of his defensive injury crisis, it seemed inevitable Ferguson would bring in new faces.

Sol Campbell was among those being mentioned, only for Ferguson to instantly reject the theory that he might be interested in a 36-year-old who played in just one League Two game since leaving Portsmouth at the end of last season.

Although United still have injury problems, Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown turned out at Hull last weekend and were fit enough to face Wigan at Old Trafford last night as the Reds recorded only their second clean sheet in six games during a five-goal romp.

With Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand also nearing recovery, Ferguson sees no need to spend any more of the £80m he received from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo last summer.

"Inevitably, people look to this month's transfer window as a solution to our injury worries but it is not the answer," Ferguson said.

"If someone could give me the name of a really good centre-half who would accept a three-month contract then I would jump at the chance. But where do you find a player like that?

"A decent player would be looking for a three-year contract and I don't need that kind of addition.

"It is difficult enough leaving good players out of the team without adding another to the mix, so I won't be looking for a senior player to ease our defensive crisis.

"Hopefully the worst is over anyway and we can get some stability at the back. Once we do that I am sure we will make up the ground we have lost."

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johndeff, Galway Eire (01/01/2010 at 15:25)

With the talk of positions that United are lack got me thinking wouldn't Andy Reid in Sunderland be an ideal choice as playmaker.
The guy can pass a ball through the eye of a needle and can split massed defenses.
I think he would well worth a gamble....he has made huge effortrs on his fitness and under fergie his game could flourish...any thoughts ?

Enzie, Red Heaven (01/01/2010 at 15:31)

be suprised if we sign anyone in January, even if certain players leave like Tosic and Nani

United^Fan, Kuwait (01/01/2010 at 15:41)

please we need news regarding forward players recruitment

we neet true and new story about world class players to play beside rooney

i wish i wake up in the morning and read the signing of david villa and silva to united
please make my wish come true

busbyboy, manchester (01/01/2010 at 16:07)

sadly the only money going out of old trafford this year will be intrest payments.

Mrs Fullaway's lodger (01/01/2010 at 16:19)

i wish i wake up in the morning and read the signing of david villa and silva to united please make my wish come true
United^Fan, Kuwait
1/01/2010 at 15:41

Could you lend the Glazers a couple o' tankers full of crude oil to sell then maybe your wish could be granted . . .

conk miester, m24 (01/01/2010 at 16:32)

o no not another excuse,the only way is down,

Johnniejohn, Tunbridge Wells (01/01/2010 at 18:31)

Could you lend the Glazers a couple o' tankers full of crude oil to sell then maybe your wish could be granted . .

They would just use that to keep the banks at bay, just like the Ronaldo money.

normanace (01/01/2010 at 19:44)

Why oh why wont you admit SAF just admit we are skint! Your excuses do you credit but without a defence how on earth do you expect to beat Arsenal away? With Gary Neville thought I saw him in with PIKE in a repeat of Dads Army the other day! Come on SAF get in the real world have a words with the oil barons and borrow a few quid we could lend them a trophy or two! Sorry but with NO RIO NO EVANS VIDIC IN MADRID CUCKOO LAND WITH RONNY! think we might just struggle a little.

Drago 34 (01/01/2010 at 20:22)

If we bring back Craig Cathcart from loan then we don't need any new defender.With
Mame Biram Diouf available from Monday that freshens up the front line and gives us a new dimension to the team with his pace, power, height, athletisisam and most of all unpredictability.So if we can sign an attack minded midfielder ( De Maria, Modric, Hamsik, Gourcouf, Costa ) then we would be sorted for the 2nd part of the season.We would have 2-3 players for each position.

In:

Diouf, Cathcart, New signing????

Out:

Nani, Tosic

Squad:

Goalkeepers:

Van Der Sar, Kuszaczk, Foster

Defenders:

Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Neville, Evans, Brown, Fabio, O'Shea, Cathcart, De Laet

Midfielders:

Valencia, Hargreaves, Fletcher, Obertan, Park, Carrick, Anderson, Giggs, Scholes, Gibson,
New signing????

Forwards:

Rooney, Berbatov, Diouf, Owen, Macheda, Welbeck

yorkie-cpm, Huddersfield (01/01/2010 at 23:04)

I find it rather amusing, no distressing, at the number of disgruntled people who are contributing. If they looked at the statistics of the performances this year and compare them to last year they would find that this years stats are better than they were last year. Points per game better, goal difference better, points away better, goals for (home) better, goals for (away) better. Stop whinging on about the need for additional players we don't need them. We are on course for another Premiership win this year. I remember the days when the blues recruited Rodney Marsh mid season who was a superb player. That transaction lost them the championship. Settle down now boys and let the man who knows what he is doing get on with doing the job his way and in doing so bring more success to the club than he would ever do following the advice of some of these contributors.

Themandownunder, South Australia (02/01/2010 at 02:01)

I cant see it happening but I'd love to see beckham back as a creative midfielder - I can see those balls being sprayed across to the wingers and through passes to the strikers. Add in his free kicks and his leadership qualities and influences to the younger players he would be an astute return
He obviously wants to play in the world cup and would give it his all
A pipedream maybe but it would be a shrewd move and I wouldnt put it past the canny scot

Themandownunder, South Australia (02/01/2010 at 02:01)

I cant see it happening but I'd love to see beckham back as a creative midfielder - I can just see those balls being sprayed across to the wingers and through passes to the strikers. Add in his free kicks and his leadership qualities and influences to the younger players he would be an astute return
He obviously wants to play in the world cup and would give it his all
A pipedream maybe but it would be a shrewd move and I wouldnt put it past the canny scot

2OLEGEND, Lancaster (02/01/2010 at 11:26)

johndeff, Galway Eire

i have a thought....your off your head. he is a championship player. Nowhere near the standard we expect at OT.

Devil in me, london (02/01/2010 at 13:27)

Another stupid article, Rio will not play more than ten games to the end of the season, Evans is very injury prone for one so young, the same can be said for Brown who is not so young and with Neville spending more time on the treatment table than on a football field, if we don't need defensive reinforcements NOW then i don't know when we ever will. Fast forward to next season and all the above problems will repeated and again we will be told rhat we are unlucky with injuries.

Cleggy.. Edwards was a one off !! (02/01/2010 at 17:35)

As with many topics, this one also brings out the " We are broke bigade".. It comes from both sides of Manchester and there may or may not be some , if only a little truth to it. So what if we really were at the point where we couldnt buy established " world class stars" ?... I think that we can but even if we didnt, for what ever reason... We would still be a very difficult team to beat for the forseable future. I cant see city buying there way to a championship and Chelsea have proven that it is not a sustainable model, as did Blackburn. If you look at the current squad, assuming that we keep the players that we want to keep ( are you listening Wayne ? ) and given the talent coming through at all levels, would that be such a bad deal ?.. I think that we will....and can still buy as the management team see a need, I just dont see all the doom and gloom if we dont..

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