If the sight of 35 candles on his birthday cake today
does not leave Ryan Giggs feeling old, the impending arrival of
another young winger at Manchester United might just do so. The
United veteran has begun to hint at retirement in recent months
and, with the club confirming yesterday that Zoran Tosic, 14 years
his junior, will be joining from Partizan Belgrade in January,
there is an unmistakable changing-of-the-guard feel around Old
Trafford.
Giggs has seven months remaining on his contract with United
and, while there have been indications from the club that he may be
offered another one-year deal, the two parties are calm about
whether to extend their enduring relationship. Giggs has started
only five of United’s 13 Barclays Premier League matches this
season and, while Tosic’s arrival should not have an impact upon
the 35-year-old directly, given that Sir Alex Ferguson regards him
as a midfield player rather than a winger these days, the £8
million deal reflects the manager’s strategy to “phase out” players
such as Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes over the next year or
two.
Tosic, a left-sided player who is described on United’s website
as a “renowned dead-ball specialist”, was granted a work permit
yesterday, with Ferguson making a personal plea at the hearing in
Sheffield. Ferguson told the hearing that Tosic, a Serbia team-mate
of Nemanja Vidic, is a player of outstanding potential who will
challenge for a first-team place immediately. Nani, the 22-year-old
Portugal winger, might have cause to look over his shoulder, having
yet to perform consistently for United since his arrival from
Sporting Lisbon 18 months ago, but in reality the youngsters will
compete for the role as Giggs’s long-term replacement while the
elder statesman plays out his career in the centre of midfield.
United have also been monitoring another youngster from
Partizan, Adem Ljajic, a 17-year-old midfield player, who may be
offered a contract after impressing while on trial in Manchester
this month, but Tosic was the priority signing. The 21-year-old is
likely to join Old Trafford on January 1, when the transfer window
opens, joining a squad that has been rejuvenated this season by the
impact of Rafael Da Silva, the 18-year-old Brazilian right back;
Jonny Evans, the Northern Ireland defender; and Danny Welbeck, the
18-year-old home-grown forward.
Any of those youngsters could get more exposure in the second
half of the season, with Ferguson expressing concerns about the
dangers of fixture congestion after his team return from the Club
World Championship in Tokyo next month. United will miss only one
Premier League match, at home to Wigan Athletic, because of the
eight-day trip, but, having still to find a suitable date for their
home fixture against Fulham, which was postponed in August because
of their participation in the European Super Cup final against
Zenit St Petersburg, and still in the Carling Cup as well as the FA
Cup and the Champions League, United are facing a growing pile-up
of fixtures.
“I am looking at playing catch-up,” Ferguson said. “Our away
fixtures have been pretty fierce, particularly after European
games, but the second half will be OK for us.
“We will have to make up the two games, of course, depending on
our progress in the League Cup and the FA Cup, that could prove a
minefield for us, trying to get dates.
“We have one or two dates pencilled in, but it really depends
how we get on next Wednesday against Blackburn [in the Carling
Cup], because we would then have two semi-final dates, which would
be midweek games. The availability of fixtures then dries up. You
are then looking into the end of February or March. If you don’t
get them then, you are talking about a Rangers situation, something
like eight games in 12 days last year. When we lost the league in
1992, we had something like four games in six days. We don’t want
that.”
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