Sir Alex Ferguson will get his own players’ assessment before deciding whether to move for summer target Christian Eriksen.
United will get a first-hand look at the Danish wonderkid when they face Ajax in the Europa League tomorrow night.
Ferguson is a big admirer of the playmaker and is considering a swoop at the end of the season.
Eriksen is already one of the most sought-after talents in Europe, but the United manager will get to see how he copes against the Premier League champions in Amsterdam.
He was famously convinced to speed up Cristiano Ronaldo’s £12m move from Sporting Lisbon after the Portuguese winger wowed United in a friendly match in 2003.
There are question marks about whether Eriksen is ready to make the move to Old Trafford at the age of 19 – but Ferguson will not want to see another starlet slip through his grasp like Karim Benzema did in 2009.
United had tracked the French striker for two years, only to miss out to Real Madrid when he left Lyon.
Ferguson believes Eriksen has the potential to become the long-term successor to Paul Scholes and does not want to lose him to one of United’s European rivals.
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He is determined to sign the best emerging talent in the world after consistently complaining about a lack of value in the transfer market.
Last summer he signed 19-year-old Phil Jones and 20-year-old David de Gea for combined fees of more than £30m.
United decided against making a formal move for Wesley Sneijder, who would have cost in the region of £30m and earns around £250,000 a week.
Fergie has reiterated his policy of focusing on young players, rather than ready-made stars.
“We decided a few years ago to create a structure with young players like Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson, and we also knew we had some talented youngsters coming through the academy, like Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley,” he said.
“All we’ve had to do since then is just build things around a few young players. With that as our strategy we’ve not had to spend huge amounts of money to stay competitive because we’ve already got the talent at home.”
Meanwhile Javier Hernandez has warned United not to leave themselves with an uphill battle for the second leg of their Europa League clash with Ajax.
The sides play at Old Trafford next week after tomorrow’s first leg in Holland.
“Playing at home in the second leg is important but it’s only a small advantage – it doesn’t guarantee victory,” said the Mexican. “We’ll go to Amsterdam looking to win.” Tweet
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not sure about the validity of this article. can you see a player recommending his replacement? its true we have bought players who had blinders against us[ronnie,saha,tevez,] but im sure{and hope] its a more measured approach. personally think we need players in the 22 to 26 age group. players arent always the best judges,3 years ago a certain left footed swintonian told me stephen ireland was the player who he most like at united based on the problems he had facing him.
Those days are long gone when players had to impress the mighty yoonited. The question is can your club stump up the cash to secure the signature of such a player? I'm only asking because you couldn't land Wesley Sneijder and seven or eight years ago that would have been a done deal. Tick tock!
Well if we dont sign him now while he's young and a bit cheaper we'll not be signing him in a couple of yrs as he wont be good value then!
As for the strategy of signing them young - tell me a club that doesnt try to do this??? This sounds good, like we're wiser than everybody else, but every club trys to sign good young players and bring them on. The exception is when you get a side like Chelsea a few yrs ago or City now, who are trying to make a huge jump forward in a short space of time, and they cant wait a few yrs for young signings to develop.
Even Real Madrid, famous for signing Galactico's, look to sign young players and being them on. More smokescreen stuff from Utd to hide the fact that we dont want to compete for established top class players any more because money is tight
Chico may be gone in the summer like Berbatov he should be playing more games last seasons top two scorers should not hang around.
as a city fan do united fans really rate schnejder at £30 million on £250 thousand a week yes city have paid way to much for some as they were asked to come to a club which was a project with no champs league but schneijder to me is grossly overpriced and i would have thought eriksen would be a better bet also there is nothing new in asking your own players who have had the run around from a potential newcomer as most deals are done after someone has shone and given your def/mid/att/ a knightmare ferguson will put his trust in a player but even he has made the odd blumer
We should snap him up in the summer me thinks! Although he's not the onlly option, m'vila and martinez would also be great choices to boost our midfield. The thing is though, we don't have BAGLOADS of money, but some serious improvements have to be made to improve our squad and team. We must spend not BIG, but spend SMART. like for example, 10m for chicharito, 12 m for smalling, 16m for valencia, 7m for vidic, 7m for evra... stuff like that. don't splash so much cash, spend on the good players.
A good idea for this summer would be like this:
19-20 m for martinez
8 m for samba
that would be some great buisness. But most of all we must also grow some youngsters, like Pogba and Tunnicliffe. We must make use of this transition period and create the next generation of young stars to lead the next united team, the team of potentially 2016-2018. And of course with SAF to go out and Ole or Mourinho to come in, we must make use of what we have now. Just like the sides of 1994, 1999 and 2008, we must make sure that another great side is made, through revolving. Anyway, whatever happens, i'll always believe and support the team.
proud to be a rag, united til i die
Don't kid yourselves - Eriksen is on his way to City. End of.
eriksen is the man we must sign @ all costs this summer, hes in the same silky mould as iniesta, silva & fabregas & with uniteds standard coaching of coaching & development wed turn him in to the best!!! gaitan is also a good player but in my opinion not as good as eriksen who can can play wide or in the hole up top
it would be brilliant to get gaitan & eriksen & ditching berbatov, macheda & owen but i cant see it happening
nani.........cleverly......eriksen.......young
valencia...carrick.....anderson.....gaitan
...........................pogba
...........................rooney
............................giggs
.........................chicharito
..........................welbeck
this gives us enough top quality option & also gaitan, cleverly, eriksen, young & nani would be able to play in multiple positions in midfield & up front.
fletcher i dont think will come back & to be honest im not kicking him when hes down but hes not going to get us any nearer to madrid & barca & i would be just as happy if we got rid of anderson whos not performed since his first season & kept scholesy for another year while pogba developes
I thought Pogba was the new Scholes, or Cleverly, or me, I'm kinda pudgy and overweight looking just like Scholesy. The bottom line is you'll never find another Scholes, he's the single most unselfish player I've ever seen at United. His unselfishness galvanizes the team, it's infectious, with Scholes we have "team play"
and without him it's different with more dependence on individual brilliance, with Scholes
the ball seems to find the back of the net, without him we struggle for the easy goals.
Up the Reds!
Is he on a free?
Great young buys Phil Jones and De Gea WOW....throw in Smalling and you have City quaking....hahaha long may the Glazers reign......Couldn't make it up.
United the Costa Concordia of the Football World.....