Sir Alex pens his thoughts before every home game for
United Review. Even after the event, it's
essential viewing. Read it in full on ManUtd.com, the day after the
game...
Welcome back to Old Trafford for what I think
will be another hotly contested season. It’s certainly our
intention to challenge for everything on offer and I feel we are
well placed to take on all-comers. I say this despite a summer of
unprecedented spending in the transfer market with Real Madrid and
Manchester City in particular racking up the inflationary spiral,
while we more or less stood aside and let them get on with
it.
I know there will be some fans who are disappointed
that we didn’t spend the princely £80million we got for Cristiano
Ronaldo from Real Madrid on another superstar. I would have done
had I felt we were getting value for our money, but this
close-season some crazy things went on and the price of the game’s
major players went through the roof.
The asking price for players we were looking at just wasn’t
realistic and we held off. I think we have shown over the years
that we are not afraid to spend big and we have in fact frequently
created transfer fee records, but only when we felt the business
made financial sense. The level of the fees being demanded in
recent months just didn’t add up.
So we stood off, but what you must remember is that we are working
from a position of strength. We don’t suddenly have to splash out
to try to compete at the top. We are already there, thanks to a
long-term strategy of buying mostly young players, who we feel have
the potential to become top performers. Cristiano Ronaldo was a
case in point. We spotted him and bought him for a modest £12m. You
know the rest. In the six years we had him he became the world’s
best player, and we certainly wish him well with the rest of
his
career. Of course we will miss him, especially his phenomenal
scoring and the way he put the opposition under pressure with the
brave way he attacked defenders.
We were never a one-man team, though, and we have other players who
will rise to the occasion and fill the gap, of that I am sure. So
pay no attention to the cynics who have suggested our owners
stopped us spending. Believe me, it was purely a football decision.
Maybe it’s the Scotsman in me, but I believe in value even when I
am spending someone else’s money! I am more than happy with my
squad and the players we have brought in who all, incidentally,
represent value. We tracked Gabriel Obertan for a long time. He is
a French Under-21 international winger who cost us £2m from
Bordeaux, a player we know will develop. Antonio Valencia, our £15m
signing from Wigan, is another wide man of great potential.
Perhaps our most controversial summer signing was Michael Owen, a
player who I believe will continue to surprise people. He may have
reached the stage of his career where he won’t figure in every
game, but he’ll score a lot of goals for us in keeping with his
tremendous record throughout his career for England, Liverpool and
Newcastle.
There seems to be constant debate about the injuries he’s picked up
over the years, but you look at Paul Scholes, who’s had two or
three bad injuries, and he’s always come back. So we are not
worried about Michael. If players have the resolve to get back then
they always will, and there’s no doubt that Michael still loves the
game of football and is hungry to play. But my belief in the
strength of our squad goes a lot deeper than our recent additions,
including now another for the future in Mame Biram Diouf.
We have some terrific young players who are breaking into the side
at the moment – players like Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck,
Darron Gibson, Jonny Evans and the da Silva twins. So we’re in very
good shape. And don’t forget Anderson and Nani – they’re also young
players who are nowhere near their peak. They’re going to develop
and mature. Their best years are still to come. To balance that, we
have Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and Edwin van
der Sar, who give us experience and stability. We might not have
spent the £80m, but there’s no need to panic.
Now we welcome Valencia to Manchester, as we step up the intensity
of our pre-season preparations. The Asia Tour was good, but we
definitely went up a notch when we played in the Audi Cup last week
in Germany and met Boca Juniors and Bayern Munich. Valencia is a
similar test. We’ve played against Valencia four times in Europe
over the years, and they’ve always been very challenging games. The
one thing you can be sure of with Valencia is that they know how to
defend. No matter who’s been in charge, whether it was Rafa Benitez
or Claudio Ranieri, they were always difficult to break down. I
expect the same again this evening.