Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has indicated that he may not add any additional players to his squad this summer, despite a promise of finance from the club’s board.
The Barclays Premier League runners up will already be adding a much needed forward to their ranks, when Mexican Javier Hernandez joins from Guadalajara, and they look to avoid last year’s defensive crisis by adding Chris Smalling from Fulham.
David Gill, United’s chief executive, speaking with Ferguson, was quick to point out that the Premier League were adding a squad limit of 25 players over the age of 21, something which may well benefit a club with an academy as rich as United’s.
Indeed, Ferguson has indicated that, once Ben Foster – third choice goalkeeper – completes his £6,000,000 move to Birmingham in the next few days, he will be replaced with a ‘keeper fed through the system: England U-21 goalie, Ben Amos.
Ferguson said of the transfer inactivity, “sometimes you have to trust in the development of the last few years and I’m going to stick with that.”
His squad was good enough to take Chelsea to within a point in the season just passed and, had he not lost a whole host of first choice centre backs in the middle part of the season, and failed to start with two first choice centre forwards for pretty much the whole term too, that effort, which also saw them make the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League, could have delivered Ferguson so much more.
As a result, he has added players in key areas, convinced Paul Scholes to stay for one more year, and is sticking with his squad of this season, which has plenty of miles left on the clock.
Without spending much, Manchester United are set to be a footballing force for at least the next three or four seasons, despite the problems their various supporters’ trusts rightly point out in the club’s somewhat precarious levels of debt.
Whatever the party line for their relative transfer inactivity, Manchester United should be able to pick up some sort of silverware next season though, if Chelsea improve their squad with a shrewd move or two, it might be another Carling Cup year for Ferguson and his men – unless he can keep his slightly shallow squad injury free.