Sir Alex
Ferguson has revealed that he plans to use Michael Owen as
little as every 10 days as he confirmed he was looking to employ
the striker as an impact player at Manchester
United.
Owen has begun his United career as well as he could have
expected, scoring twice in two games during the champions' tour of
Asia, the second coming in today's 2–0 win here over a Malaysia XI.
But Ferguson indicated he saw him as support to the existing strike
pairing of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. "We can carry Michael
Owen. I won't ask him to play every four days, I might ask him to
play every 10 days," the manager said. "We can do it because I
always rotate my squad."
Ferguson hopes Owen might have the same influence as Henrik
Larsson did in the early months of 2007, when he was brought on
loan from Helsingborg. The Swede was not a regular starter but was
pivotal in United's wresting back of the title after four barren
years.
"They are similar players in terms of movement in the last
third," said Ferguson. "Larsson was always on the move. That is a
great asset to have and they don't try anything different. Larsson
never did and nor does Owen. The ball comes into the penalty box
and he is always there.
"It's worth the risk. Sometimes you have a punt, a bet or a
gamble but there is a little bit more to him than that, having
spoken to one or two players about Owen. I first tried to sign him
when he was 12, so we have been waiting for this."
Like most at Old Trafford, Ferguson accepted that sooner or
later Cristiano Ronaldo, whose shirt Owen now wears, would go to
Real Madrid but he holds out the wistful prospect that the winger
might end his career at United. The man who eight months ago said
he would "not sell that mob [Madrid] a virus", spoke with almost
paternal pride of what Ronaldo might achieve when reflecting on the
£80m move to the Bernabéu.
"His best is yet to come because he is just 24," Ferguson said.
"I will be very proud when I see [him at his best] because we had a
part to play in it. He came to the right club at the right part of
his career. He could have gone to Real Madrid or Barcelona as a boy
but he came to the right club and he appreciates that. And he may
come back, you never know.
"I don't see it happening if things go wrong at Real Madrid
necessarily, but he loved Manchester United so it may happen. He
loved the club. If you look at the six years he had with us, he
never missed training and he was never injured. He always played.
He was fantastic.
"It wasn't easy to see him leave. I had a good chat with the boy
about it but he had made up his mind. Last year he was begging me
to let him go but this year it was a sensible discussion.
"There is no doubt it is a huge loss. It is a challenge for us
because it won't be the same without Ronaldo. He is the best player
in this world of ours – by absolutely miles. He is streets ahead of
Lionel Messi, streets ahead of Kaka. Look at his figures. They are
unbelievable. The attempts he has had on goal, the attacks in the
penalty box, his positions, his headers, his shots."
None of which will now benefit Manchester United. Ferguson has
spent a quarter of the fee he received for Ronaldo and was prepared
to spend almost half of it on Karim Benzema, but the weight of
Madrid's money told, with the France striker also moving to the
Bernabéu.
"We tried for Benzema because, at 21, I felt there would be an
improvement there," said Ferguson. "He is tough, with a good
physique and goalscoring record, so it was worth going a wee bit
extra for him because of his age. But when it went to 42m euros, it
was beyond his value. We went to 35m and I think that was fair.
"We explored signing Franck Ribery in a nice, quiet way when
[the chief executive] David Gill was at one of his meetings with
Bayern Munich in March. They told him: 'Absolutely no chance' and
the one thing you can say about Bayern is that when they say
something they mean it."
