SIR Alex Ferguson believes the influence of the January transfer window is "over-rated".
Having secured Henrik Larsson on a short-term loan and recalled Giuseppe Rossi and half a dozen other youngsters from spells elsewhere, Ferguson is now pondering whether to make further reinforcements to his squad.
A move for Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves is still being debated, while chief title rivals Chelsea are working out whether they need to bring in cover for a host of injured stars.
Many pundits have claimed next month's market moves will be crucial in determining the destination of the major prizes.
However, given the restrictions on the number of players available, Ferguson doubts any new signings will have a dramatic effect.
"The influence of the transfer window is over-rated in the sense of what you can really do," he said.
"If you have ambitions in the Champions League, the Premiership and the FA Cup you are limited in terms of the number of players you can choose.
"We have signed players in the past but it is not necessarily the case we will sign someone this time. We may, or we may not. It depends on a lot of things.
Goals
"But I am happy we have Henrik Larsson coming in and also with the improvement in Alan Smith. And, now Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is fit again, he will definitely get us 15 goals."
Ferguson did splash out é12million on Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra 12 months ago, while in years gone by Louis Saha and Andy Cole have both arrived in mid-winter.
However, given the time Vidic and Evra took to settle in at Old Trafford, it is understandable why Ferguson prefers to concentrate on his current squad as United look to consolidate their four-point lead at the top.
In particular, it is the outstanding form of Cristiano Ronaldo is fuelling optimism for the second half of the campaign.
The only realistic challenger to Didier Drogba for the annual player of the year awards, the Portugal winger has already made a major mark on the Festive period, netting twice at Aston Villa last weekend before emerging from the bench to score another brace in the Boxing Day win over Wigan.
Former United winger Steve Coppell, whose Reading side are the next in line to try to stop Ronaldo at Old Trafford tomorrow, hailed the 21-year-old as the best player in the world just now.
It is not a statement Ferguson is about to disagree with.
Speed
"There are very few players in the world who can play wide and attack players the way he does with such speed," said the Red Devils boss.
"He is such a danger to defenders because he doesn't just beat men, he has the desire and drive not to give in when they foul him. No-one enjoys playing against someone like that.
"I am sure Cristiano is already one of the best players in the world. But he is only 21 and he will get better. He works hard, he practices and his lifestyle is good. I have no worries about him in that respect."
Ronaldo will almost certainly earn a recall tomorrow along with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Louis Saha, while Paul Scholes' suspension means Michael Carrick makes an instant return after missing the last two games with an ankle problem.
Having drawn with United once already this season, Reading had proved themselves to be dangerous opponents long before they put a dent in Chelsea's hopes of a title hat-trick.
The Royals' surprise result at Stamford Bridge has been blamed on the continued absence of Blues skipper John Terry.
However, while Ferguson acknowledges the loss of such a key man is hard to cope with, even for a club with Chelsea's vast resources, he believes the impact of Terry's back injury has been slightly overstated.
"He is one of the mainstays of their team but in the games he has missed, Chelsea have actually gained a point on us," observed the Scot.
"Overall, I just feel our form has been more consistent than Chelsea's and the name of the game for us now is to maintain it."
Do you agree with Ferguson? Have your say.
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Absolutely! Keep it going! 17 wins would give us the league title! Transfer window; only buy if OH is available or another top player that SAF might desire.Everything is going fine.Fine tuning only!
i already know that SAF will not buy any player during this transfer window but he must remember this squad still not as good as CHELSEA and if Ronaldo or ROOneey injure they will sure started to drop points and in CL also
there is certainly plenty of room for improvment in central mid.OH would fit in nicely i think.this is important so that we can get the best out of scholes in the 2nd half of the season & in europe.enough said of DF & JOS.feel like trashing the tv seeing them in our mid.carrick's doing fine but he URGENTLY needs to learn the traits to share the burden of scholes to run the mid.saha has to be more ruthless in front of goal
Yeah , maybe over-rated ,it's difficult for a new player to settle inmediatly. I think Larsson will be fine because he's having a mini pre-season with us. But we need a CM ,don't matter if we wait one month to see him in the first XI
yep i agree; should never have agreed to the damn thing; can you imagine any other business where you can only buy and sell your main assets 6 months in the year!! Never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life;smaller clubs need to be able to sell players[not very nice,but true
!] Its as much a resriction on trade as the bosman was for players; can't believe its not been challenged yet?
Keep your powder dry SAF.If we can't get OH then lets not bother as I can't see anyone else making a contribution rather than disrupting things.Only exceptions might be those that can be quietly bedded in for next year as evra and vdic were
If we can get Hargreaves in Jan i say go for it.If not leave well enough alone.Don't fix whats not broken.It took Vidic and Evra a few months to settle in England so i think leave be till the summer,we are going well at the moment and we dont want to disrupt the flow.Hopefully we wont pick up any major injuries which would be a miracle but even if we do SAF feels confident enough in his squad although i still feel we are a bit thin in MF.Larrson hopefully will bring something different to our play and will hopefully bag a few.We look strong @ the moment and i pray to god i'm eating my words in May as at the start of the season i certainly didn't think our squad was big enough or strong enough.I'd still like to go for Huntlaar,i'd still like to have an out and out goalscorer in the side.Happy b'day Sir Alex.Also just finished Paul McGraths book,best football book i've read.Highly recommend.Morinho are you listening...................c u in may!!!
I think he will be taking a risk if he doesn't bring in at least 1 or 2 new players. We have been going well, but if we suffer injuries to top players we will struggle. Sir Bobby Charlton stated last month that we would definatly be doing business in January. We should just wait and see. I am happy with Larsson arrival, and would be thrilled if Hargreaves finally joins us. I get what Ferguson means in the sence that there isn't much availble in January, and if we got OH he couldn't play in Europe.
Fergie should be cheeky and put in a bid for Micah Richards. He can develope into a great holding midfielder and in a couple of years take over at right back. Hargreaves' broken leg seems to have had complications and there must be reservations of spending all that cash on him at this time. City fans would riot, but who cares. Micah could get the chance to play for a big club in their own full ground. Besides, didn't they steal him from Oldham . Isn't there a saying about what goes around comes around.
I am inck=lined to agree with the wise-man!
I think you either make inspired signings (ahem!!...Mr Larsson per emxamplé!) or panic ones!!!...Into which category any other signings fall!
We will not be brinigng anyone else in (Glazers...0 as I think that you really should make ant other signings in summer / close season and they are then planned!
No carry-on and fingers crossed - no other lenghty injurie worries in the near future.
The CM and a winger to be sined in the summer, OH, Reo-Coker, Makoun or Mavuba and Jérôme Rothen from PSG ( a player whom I've always admired and) - we should have got a couple of years ago, and or Hudgleston from Spurs who looks a good strong player.
Let's keep on doing what matters and keep our foot on the accelerator.
Allez les Rouges
Fergie,you need a hard man/ball winner in CM but tomorrow will give Carrick a chance to shine(or not) without Scholsey to carry him.After all,he is meant to be Scholsey's heir.
Everything is pointing to another disappointing anti-climax after dozens of names have been mentioned as prospective transfers. If we don't get a defensive midfielder and a back-up striker I'm very afraid we'll again finish second best.
I just read that kristoffer haestad is joining wigan on loan till the end of the season so it will be interesting to see if he can do the buisness in the premiership and live up to the hype that's been written about him on this site, I also read we were considering buying per skjelbred who is a 19yr old winger for rosenborg and was looking like a very exciting player before he broke his leg but he's back playing now and might be an interesting buy for us if the reports are to be believed, And as for the owen hargreaves situation i was watching sky sports news on sunday morning when they have a football writer looking at the morning papers and he said the story about the hargreaves transfer already been set for a 12 million january move could be right because the guy who wrote it is a big friend of fergies and in the article it said hargreaves as told fergie he will be joining in january so let's hope that finally gets sorted, I personally dont think we need alot of players i would be extremely happy with hargreaves and skjelbred as there the only two positions we need a bit more cover in.
George, I always like your comments but OH would do nothing for the squad until late January at the earliest and nothing for us in the CL except rest Scholes or Carrick. Maybe Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher can get us through to February but one injury or red card and we are screwed. We have to buy so if Giggs does have to cover Scholes then we have left mid field covered. We have to buy and we have to sell. Players like Smith, Sly, Richardson and O'Shea could all be starters somewhere so let them go and bring in players like Pederson and Lennon who can help us win games. None of the four players I've mentioned add to our squad. How about a cheeky bid for Robben just to set le chat amongst les pigeons?
In the near future, fergie is right. It takes a while for players to adapt to their new teams. (Evra and Vidic) But over time, winter signings can be very influential at the end of the year when your chasing titles and the next year. (Evra, Vidic, Andy Cole) We should still sign a hargreaves or camoranesi or klose.
do any1 think we should buy marscherano sooner than later while the mirror said liverpool want 6m(new yr sale!?) marscherano? i think it's a fantastic price and also all we know his ability is not just a backup quality. not a gamble if just 6m!
'happy with the current squad' uh oh it's back again! How well we do depends on whether Ronaldo stays fit and Rooney gets better. Chelsea will no doubt splash out a few hundred million in January, this can only mean one thing...panic! A club six hundred million in debt is doing better than them and they don't like it! Maybe we'll get Teddy on loan too!
Hopefully this a smokescreen and we are getting people in, but the way he's been praising our mostly useless back up's i have my doubt's, so it's stillno no money to spend. And if rossi goes out on loan again how do we have cover? intrestingly liverpool are looking at macherano, now we all know he can play and after his turmoil at the hammers the price surely wouldn't be too inflated, what does anyone else think? also reo-cocker in the last few games ive watched him play hasn't done anything(bar score against us) to justify a bid. Anyway let's give a win today and everyone have a happy new year, edinburgh's the best place to have it thankfully
Yes but as he said he will be first to collect his pension and free bus pass.
I agree wih George from over the water from me in Rhyl. Top quality only and then will it be worthwhile short term. The youngsters coming back from loan moves could provide much needed cover and with their enthusiasm and young legs they just might help to carry us over the finishing line ahead of the rest.
All the best edinburgh red I agree with all your points!
How about a cheeky 2m bif for Obi Mikel lol. seriously there isnt much we need. We have 7 strikers come Monday and ourdefence is strong somaybe a CM and winger but 2 at most I would say. Mascherano should get a look or maybe Fernandes on loan at Portsmouth. Still we should only sign if its worth it so if we can get Reo-coker in Jan but only OH till summer surely its best waiting till summer. No panic buys needed
The back up Midfield did well against Reading, a strong side in 9th spot. The back four defended well other than the late goal. Their first was a cracker just like ours.
Wes had a good game and in MF Carrick did mostly okay without Scholes and with JOS alongside.
Rooney isn't likely to get on the scoreboard anytime soon but is playing with controlled aggression and plenty of pace. Why can't he become the new Roy Keane? Not that we really expect to get one, but he could cover the area box to box and would score a few if the pressure is off him.
Try him alongside Scholes or Carrick and play Ole and Saha. They could rotate with Larsen [short term ] and Smith and Rossi.
Ole fans believe he can do the business as long as he remains fit, but if he gets the odd niggle we have plenty of cover up front.
I think OH is the player we want most because he would suit our style and wants to play for us. So buy judiciously and don't blame the Glazers if we don'y bring anyone in. Fergie obviously wants the right players.
In relation to comments about Chelsea likely buying up that is hteir business. Our interest in the matter should be down to two things only. First, them buying tasrgets of ours, and secondly, how the newcomers will fit in at a club where so many stars are unhappy with their game time. [Robben, SWP and Sheva must be wishing he had gone to Spain or soemwhere other than the PL]
We have run the title race all of the first half of 2006-07, no reason that we cannot keep up the playing level with a team that believes in itself far more than some of you supporters. Happy New Year to one and all.
Fergie, 20 mil for Hargraves will get you ?????? and too little cover. Nani, Makoun, Mascherano (6.5 mil. !!!!!!) and still sums to get the laundry done.
Spirit of Keano
i think fergie should get his hands out of his pockets and bring in some new faces such as owen hargreaves,gareth bale,if owen transfer falls through try to land hammers skipper reo-coker or even move for man city skipper joe barton