Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he is "concerned" by the shortage of strikers at his disposal for the new season.
With the newly-committed Ronaldo still recovering from an operation on his ankle and Wayne Rooney laid low by a mystery virus, Ferguson's options for the season-opening match against Newcastle in two weeks' time are likely to be limited to pairing Ryan Giggs with Carlos Tevez.
"It is a concern," Ferguson acknowledged. "Wayne will probably miss the start of the season and Louis Saha's future is undecided at the moment. It's left us a little short up front."
Tevez and Giggs started Wednesday night's pre-season friendly with Juventus but the stalemate that then ensued was hardly reassuring. Nonetheless, Ferguson remains defiant that, even without Rooney and Ronaldo, not to mention the suspended Nani and Olympics-bound Anderson, his team can cope.
"I'm sure we'll find the goals at the start of the season though - our play is good enough," he insisted.
Despite the dearth of striking options, Ferguson announced earlier in the week that he might not buy again this summer having previously said he wanted to make one more signing.
While it remains to be seen if United make another attempt to bring Dimi Berbatov to Old Trafford from Tottenham Hotspur, the timing of Ferguson's apparent u-turn on the eve of Ronaldo's declaration that he would stay does raise questions about the size of the kitty available to the Manchester United boss this summer.
One explanation is that, having spent in excess of £50m last year and set aside a further £25m to finance the transfer of Tevez on a permanent basis, Ferguson has been told he can only make another high-profile signing if he raises the funds himself.
Your Comments
mgaffney
"Definitely need another striker, even though we won everything we wanted last season except maybe FA Cup. We still looked a little short up front when Rooney was out we had nobody to come in for him. We should go for Huntelaar or Santa Cruz or if Benzema could be tempted to leave but I think he wants to stay at Lyon. It seems we are being priced out of a move for Berba."
mrmoany
"united to win all tropheys this season come on unuited "
rahul97
"why is he not lookin to sign 1 striker? isay huntelaar is a wonderful player.he can be a great asset to united.plzzz some1 go tell fergie to make a bid 4 him."
Unspecial_One
"champion doesnt need a solid or even good start to the season.. manu showed that last season.. liverpool was on top of the table few games into the season with manu at the opposite end, did that really matters in the end? all u need is a consistent season.. so what you win 19 out of 19 games in the first half while losing the remaining 19 matches, you cant even get into the UEFA cup.."
11838
"valurunited you are spot on mate ryan giggs is no good at striker may as well play frazier campbell, i wnet to both the united preseaosn games at old trafford and i think that campbell will play better then giggs upfrotn wiht tevez. i really dont see what everybody sees in ryan giggs he is rubbish, he treis al these fancy flicks and things and loses the ball almost everytime he gets it like last year i watched one of the games and he only made one sucessfull pass the whole game he tries to take on players but he doesnt have the pace he use to have so ryan giggs i really hope this is his last seaoson cuase hes ruining becuase sir alex keeps playing him and we will suffer on the opening day of the seaason with giggs playing in behind tevez. united should really test out rafael da silva i think hes better then wes brown, he was so exciting to watch against juventus."
mufcjon
"It's just kidology from Fergie again.Now Berbatov will start flapping and tell Spurs he wants to move to Utd,Spurs will have no choice but to sell,and quick,so that they can spend the money,DONE!"
Talentition
"Saha is quality, def worth keeping, and DEF too gd for sunderland! wen he's in...he produces. if only he wasnt made of glass!!"
shooby_doo
"rooney is class. I hate it when people say his overated and all that but his not. He mixes his aggresion with football and play. He has a soaring shot and good link up play. I still think that we need an upfronter. I like saha and i dont want him to leave but he hasnt been doing much so i cant really see him staying. But i still do think he should be given a chance. Saha a great player and i cant understand why we are not usually playing him. We couldve easily plasyed 433 with him tevez and rooney upfront last season but he couldnt even make the bench. If saha goes we have to get a replacement."
mrmoany
"why hasnt alex bought any players yet they must have money to send he should get henry or beratov or santa cruz or even go for david villa"
Bazminda
"not to worry, utd are opening against newcastle, just let some lucky fan have a go and they'l still score against that hapless shower of s**te"
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