When it comes to replacing the iconic figures of Manchester
United – the men who wear the No7 shirt – Sir Alex
Ferguson's record has been remarkably successful.
Bringing in Roy Keane for a then-record transfer fee gave United
the great box-to-box midfielder that Bryan Robson had been in his
pomp – and which Paul Ince never was. Teddy Sheringham is no icon
at Old Trafford but, though he may never be the subject of a film
by Ken Loach, he did turn a major European game – something Eric
Cantona rarely managed. Cristiano
Ronaldo emerged as a fashion and marketing icon to match
David Beckham, whom he eclipsed as a footballer.
Replacing the boy from Madeira is altogether more problematic
and is something Ferguson has not attempted – he and Antonio
Valencia have been at pains to point out that he is no new Ronaldo.
If you want to judge the hole torn from Manchester United by his
departure, consider what might be Ferguson's midfield when their
Premier League campaign opens on 16 August against Birmingham.
Valencia and Nani patrol the flanks while Anderson and Michael
Carrick anchor the midfield with the former driving forward to
support Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney – whom Ferguson has
insisted throughout United's pre-season will be used more
centrally. Each of these four midfielders cost around £16-17m and
the oldest, Carrick, has just turned 28. It is a young, talented
and versatile combination and, if they repeat their statistics from
last season, they will score eight goals between them. The most
prolific was Carrick with four and he is the most defensively
minded of the quartet.
That, bluntly, is what has been lost. Time and again in east
Asia and in Germany Ferguson has returned to the subject of how his
midfield will make up the goals that came from Ronaldo's gaudily
coloured boots. In his final campaign at Old Trafford he scored 18
times in the Premier League for the champions, goals that earned
Manchester United 11 points. In his season of wonder, 2007-08, he
scored in various competitions against every Premier League side
with the exception of Middlesbrough and Manchester City. If you
take away his league goals – which earned United 21 points – they
would have finished fourth in 2008, sandwiched between Liverpool
and Everton.
The fact that Valencia and Anderson
both found the net in Manchester United's somewhat jittery 2–1 win
over Boca Juniors in Munich last night is encouraging.
Anderson's inability to score in any of his previous 75 competitive
games for United, something he managed reasonably well at Porto,
had become such a subject of dressing-room banter that when he beat
Roberto Abbondanzieri the entire United bench came to the touchline
to applaud.
Ferguson said afterwards that he hoped that this might encourage
the Brazilian to be more adventurous in front of goal. He added
that Valencia's goalscoring return for Wigan had been "poor" but
they would work on this on the Carrington training pitches and the
fact that he was playing for Manchester United, rather than Wigan,
would naturally provide him with more opportunity.
Then there is the question of Ronaldo's speciality: dead balls.
Manchester United have nearly always had a nominated penalty-taker
under Ferguson to the extent that when Alan Shearer was negotiating
to come to Old Trafford in the summer of 1996, his request to take
the spot-kicks should he sign was turned down. Cantona, Ferguson
explained, took Manchester United's penalties. After Cantona, it
fell first to Beckham and then Ronaldo. But this time there is no
obvious successor.
Ryan Giggs has the coolness and skill to do it but it is
questionable how many games even the great Welshman can start at
35. The best bet – curiously given his abysmal record in front of
goal – might be Anderson. Certainly, he strikes the ball harder
than almost anyone else in Ferguson's squad, and his penalty in the
shoot-out that decided the 2008 European Cup final against Chelsea,
was unsaveable. He may be a gamble but Ferguson, both on and off
the field, has always relished a punt.