Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson was prepared to spend around £25m on Arsenal’s Samir Nasri to ease the pain of the 36-year-old’s retirement.
But he has accepted the French playmaker is unlikely to be Old Trafford-bound – even if the Gunners allow him to leave the Emirates.
Though it is believed Fergie has not completely given up hope of capturing Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder – despite his lukewarm response to questions on the matter yesterday – he will now have to do battle with City to to gain the Dutchman’s signature.
And United fans are biting their nails over the issue of crowning Scholes’ heir.
However, Carrick insists replacing a key figure has been overcome in the past and it can be done again.
“I think losing a player like Paul is a big loss – he brings so much to the team,” said Carrick. “He’s a world-class player. Scholesy was just brilliant – how he played the game, how he was off the pitch.
“He was loved by everyone. None of the lads have a bad word for him. He came in, did the business and then headed off again. He had genius ability that you can’t really teach.
“You have to compensate in other ways. We’ve done that in the past – we lost Cristiano Ronaldo a few years ago and people didn’t think we’d get over it.
“Different players step up – maybe not one player but we share the responsibility. I feel there’s more responsibility as you get older, too. Experience counts for a lot. I just want to improve again and have a good season.”
The Nasri trail has gone cold and all the recent talk has been of a move for Sneijder.
But the Reds camp are distancing themselves from the speculation on the tour of the USA.
“I think you follow it because it’s in the headlines but we don’t look too deeply at it,” added Carrick.
“The club being like it is, we get linked with all sorts of players.
“We don’t get involved in the ins and outs of what’s going on. We just want to focus on our training and getting prepared. We trust the manager and the coaches to strengthen the squad. Whoever he brings in is going to do that.
“To get caught up in all the rumours, it doesn’t help things. Whoever comes in, comes in.”
United’s senior squad have been stripped of a wealth of experience with the retirements of Scholes, Gary Neville and Edwin Van der Sar. But who will be missed the most?
“That’s a hard question,” added Carrick. “They all bring so much, but in different ways. Edwin’s experience, his calmness, the reliability – that was the main thing. Like any goalkeeper he made the odd mistake but generally he was world-class. So was Scholesy. Playing with him was as good as it gets.
“Gary, as well as being an incredible player for 10 or 15 years at that level – his influence off the pitch was massive. When I came he was the captain and he’d drive the high standards and keep players on their toes.
“People say he moans a lot but there was a reason he moaned – he wanted everybody to hit perfection. As a captain and off the pitch he was immense.
“All of a sudden I’m feeling a bit older now Wes (Brown), Sheasy (John O’Shea), Scholesy and Edwin have gone. I’m probably in the top five or six oldest players.
“The lads that left – Sheasy and Wes – I got on well with them and played golf with them. It’s never nice to see the lads leaving.
“Scholesy and Edwin were such big characters in the dressing room too, even though they weren’t loud. They were really nice guys and easy to get on with. That’s football – you have to move on and that’s the business we’re in.
“We’re always confident, especially after winning the league. Belief and confidence are high. The manager always strengthens when he feels right and in positions he feels need strengthening.
“We trust him totally with that and we believe we have a chance this season.”
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We still need a midfielder !
The guys cant fill the massive gap left by Scholsey !
The Bin Dipper have a whole host of midfielders they want rid of, at reasonable rates.
Michael Carrick and Anderson - two guys keeping their fingers crossed that we don't sign anybody. In my opinion Sneijder wont happen. Cant see united paying over the odds for a guy who could have been bought for a quarter of the current price a few years back.
I do fear for our midfield in the closing stages of Europe next season (once again). I dont have faith that the remaining midfielders are good enough at that stage. Ten minutes aside in the champions league final, we got destroyed in the middle of the park (again). Fergie knows this, but we seem to be sending out the message that 'we will plough on with what we have'.
Fergie quoted in the papaers as saying that we are nowhere near finding a replacement and that he is content with the current midfield crop. While you expect him to be cautious about iminent signings, the noises are still worrying.
Morrison and Pogba were not taken to the U,S as we had enough players in the squad. Surely giving them 20 mins against a duff U.S team wouldn' be too much to expect. Yet we will probably hear that Anderson and Carrick had great pre-seasons and will step up come August so we dont need to purchase anybody. A load of rubbish. What odds next April / May we run into Barcelona in the champions league and this debate kicks off again for next summer.
Fletcher is a big loss too and personally I wouldn't object to another ball winner being purchased also. Not since Keano have we had a commanding central midfield figure. Fletcher to be fair while not on the same level will do a good job but unfortunatley the poor guy is still recovering from illness.
Come on United - sort this midfield issue out.
We aint got the talent at the club in my opinion. Fletcher and Carrick not good enough and Anderson is too inconsistent. We could go with the kids, maybe one or two of them will surprise everyone. Or maybe Fergie will buy someone else, although it seems less likely it will be Sneidjer, if you believe the papers. Ganso, Schweinsteiger, and Mata have been mentioned.
"United fans are biting their nails over the issue of crowning Scholes’ heir" - well, a few on the lunatic fringe probably are, but surely most of the rest of us trust SAF's judgement as to whether reinforcements are needed and, if so, who is going to improve us. My feeling is that we have a very strong squad and if we didn't buy another player we'd still start the season as favourites for the PL and among the favourites for the CL.
“We’re always confident, especially after winning the league. Belief and confidence are high" - you've obviously not been reading this forum Michael. Mind you, who could blame you!
If a midfielder was Fergie's priority then we'd already have signed one, his priorities have been covered,i.e. a long term quality goalie and English players. After the Berba transfer I'd be very surprised to see us pay for Sneider, he's not worth it. Anyway, we can win the prem with the players we've got it's just for barca that people want sneider and 1 player can't beat them the team has to improve to beat them, as well as the tactics etc.
Ando, Carrick, DF, Cleverly, Giggs (and maybe some cameos from Valencia, Park, Jones or Roo) are our midfield and we saw them perform brilliantly towards the end of the season. And if Ando and Cleverly fulfill their potential I don't think that we need anyone else.
People were begging for us to sign Sneider and Van der Vaart about 5 years ago, which is when we should have signed them. If we are to sign a midfielder he should be a great youmg prospect and not a 40 million quid candidate to take over Hargreaves' sick bed. Just like we did with Anderson who has just turned 23 and may well be the revelation of the season.
Sir ALEX has ruled out using Rooney in the Scholes role even though Scholes himself thought like may supporters he would do a good job.
These headlines are a joke Carrick would not make the bench at most clubs Fletcher has some Virus Rio plays like he is half asleep and Fergie can,t control his players off the field.
He signs 3 keepers and so far has failed to put in an offer for Nasari or Snieder he is just bumming the fans off.
If he really had 100 million he could easily have bought two world class midfielders.
Scholes was not even a regular choice niether was Giggs when Ronaldo was here.
Fergie should have quit I think getting made to look like fools twice Barcelona should have even got through his thiick skin Rotation does not work leaving the leagues top scorer out of the final does not work.Playing the bioggest overated and expensive defender in our history does not work.
SAF says he as a very young squad with 12 players under the age of 22. If any of these players need motovating. Let them use the class of 94 as a example ("you,ll never win anything with kids"). Let them hear from Giggsy, On how they did it then and how , they can do it again now. A tall order but one that can be done. Has for united players that need to step upto the plate. Yes the players who need to step up
and be more consistent, are yourself Mr Carrick a strong finish to the season but a poor first half,,Anderson probably the most inconsistent player at the club this season will define his football career fail this season and he,ll be on his way.and if Gibson is still at the club He will need to fight for a place in the team. against the likes of Tom Cleverley,Pogba,Tunnicliffe. certainly that trio plus Morrison have the world at their feet. That said If i had my way i would certainly would have bought and still hope SAF will buy atleast 2 World class midfielders. That said i still think its ours to lose..
Am i living in a vacuum. Did no one see the Dispatches prog last night about football last night? truly frightening.
It was frightening if it was true which I doubt,even worse if it was not. It just shows what football has come down to Most premier,and league clubs are foreign owned,but no one knows who actually owns them, and league does not have resources to check every one.
The concepts were fantastic. Even if they were conmen trying to get money out of the reporters they were based on what is actually going on.
Paul Scholes' replacement has been needed for 3-4 years. The recent PS was impressive but the real item disappeared years ago. I'm sure though that SAF knows what to do.
I fear what I say here might well be met with a barage of insults and venom. So let me start by saying that Paul Scholes has been my favourite player since he burst onto the scene. And we will never find another player like him.
But I think there has been far too much hype surrounding Paul's retirement.
While it is good to recognise him as the player he was and to sing his praises as we all have done, quite rightly as it is thoroughly deserved of him it is now time to let go and move on and concentrate on the coming season.
There have been many top quality players who have left this club and maybe in some cases have not been replaced but we are United and are guided by SAF who I trust and who has always faced each problem with a rethink or rebuild with a lot of success and he will do it again.
We will never forget Paul or the other great players in our history but it is time to move on and not to think of a worry of replacing any player who leaves.
I am pleased with our new players and I still think the manager will still surprise us as I have stated before and I am not a bit concerned about other teams and what they do in the transfer market.
I am looking forward to the coming season fellow Reds as I am sure most of you are too.
Number 20 coming up.
United in my heart blood and soul.
Ideally we still get one of our targets , but if we don`t we will still win the Prem again and have a chance of winning the CL .
With Hernandez becoming a regular starter , and the addition of Young on the left , it gives Rooney license to drop in to bolster central mid when required . Anderson remains a mystery to me looking like a world beater one week and average the next but I would still like to see him being given a 15-20 game unbroken run and lets see if he can deliver consistently . Giggs also provided a creative spark from the centre towards the back end of the season and of course we have some very talented young central midfielders coming through as well .
No-one can replace Scholesy but we do have Anderson and Cleverley and both are star players just getting better with age and it's going to be freaking aweseome watching Cleverley.
So, everyone's closing ranks as most of our midfield targets look as though they're going elsewhere....
These are the same pathetic excuses we've had to deal with for a couple of years now.
If Fergie comes out with the usual drivel about there being 'no value in the market' I think I'll go nuts.
Allegedly, we have a worldwide network of scouts - surely it's not unreasonable to expect them to turn up a likely prospect....is it?
Somehow we got away with it last season, but the simple truth is that a midfield of Carrick, Anderson and Giggs is just too fragile and inconsistent to keep on pulling rabbits out of hats every year. We have to rebuild - in fact we should have been doing so for 2 years now.
If Sneijder isn't going to happen, Pogba and Morrison will need to be promoted more rapidly and Fergie will have to get on the phone to Darren to try and get Tunnicliffe back.
I still have faith in Anderson's ability. He's still young enough to improve even further if he can get string of regular games under his belt.
Sir Alex Ferguson pointed the finger at Sunderland over the breakdown of Darron Gibson's move north. Ferguson accused Sunderland of lowering their initial offer
This another Fergie distraction to hide the fact he still has not signed a midflielder who has not just left school.
Sunderland said they would pay Gibson what he is worth and they obviously do not think he should be getting paid the same as Nasari is on at Arsenal
When Scholesy was there we had a need to strengthen the midfield. I didn't see Carrick and Co. compensating for the anything in the midfield against Barcelona. Then again, that was an exceptional Barcelona team we lost to in the final. We need a bit of extra class in that midfield if we are to compete at the very top of the Chamipions League and against the better sides of The Premiership. That said, despite the fears of some, we are generally in great shape.
You just wonder if the Old Fox has the answer and is just keeping us all in the dark.
In Fergie we trust. (Just look at the Trophy Room!!)
Manchester United’s supporting cast will step up to compensate for the loss of midfield talisman Paul Scholes
Ragspeak for we're skint
Why don't you just go and buy Sneijder (you know the one who is dying to sign for you)
I hear his wife has already put her C.V in at Lou Macaris chippy.
One would hope that Fergie is taking the cautious approach. I would not understand it otherwise as he himself highlighted it as an area for improvement and we have gained a winger in Young but lost Hargreaves and Scholes, and if you look at it from the perspective of numbers, Gibson is likely to move on as well. Cleverley is stepping in but he is unproven as yet and did not exactly set the world alight with the U21s. Plus, there are some concerns about Fletcher which would leave us in some trouble in the worst possible scenario. Don't really buy the usual line that there are 3 or 4 players who could be brought in but are not good enough, i.e. just like Van der Vaart was not good enough but scored x number of goals for a bargain €10M. And as for Carrick's assertion, he won't step up because he doesn't have the capability to do so, it's been proven time and time again, useful squad player as he is no doubt.
Our biggest threat this coming season,......its not chelski, liverpool,arsenil, the noisy neighbours, or spurs, or anybody else for that matter.
Our biiggest threat is OURSELVES with this chronic midfield we have.
Carrick, anderson fletcher.....nowhere near good enough, giggs ...finished.
Are we expecting Jones to be tried as the holding/ball-winning midfielder in front of Vidic and Ferdinand/Smalling? I've long thought that United's biggest problem for several years has been replacing Keane. The current bunch of midfielders is probably good enough for most (but not all) Premiership matchers, and some European games. But if United are going to continue winning things, particularly the CL, then somewhere along the line 'good enough' just isn't going to be good enough. We're told that Jones can play the defensive midfield role, but to a standard that will keep the likes of Barca quiet?
Well if was Carrick i wouldnt want the staus quo altered either. Its really not simply a case of saying the lads we have will step up. Is Carrick suddenly going to become the creative force he hasnt been in his entire career to date? Or Fletcher? Anderson has some hope but as discussed on other threads, his best performances since he joined, which came in his first yr, were more all action combative displays than Scholes-esque type performances. Simply, Carrick and Fletcher are as good as theyre going to be at this stage, so if Anderson doesnt make a huge improvement then nobody in the foreseeable future will be stepping up, which means unless we sign someone we'll be waiting a few yrs for the younger lads like Pogba to give it a go and hope for the best with them
Alias if you think supporters hoping the club signs a player of the calibre of Snjeider, Modric or Nasri makes them a lunatic fringe then you really are more blind than i thought
Now that the Harry Potter series has ended, Ron weasley is free.
Ginger and can't tackle, he has all the attributes.