United 'fraud squad' set for summer tour as concerns grow over Fergie's transfer activity...

The dust may well have settled on the season that's just gone, but the disappointment and manner of the its conclusion will linger on for quite some time. In the intervening weeks, since United unforgivably handed back what just a few weeks earlier had looked to be league title number 20 to Manchester City, not an awful lot has happened to suggest Ferguson and his players will be capable of wrestling control of the Premier League trophy out of the grubby clutches of our 'noisy neighbours'.

To date, Ferguson has left many supporters' underwhelmed with his summer signings. The addition of Nick Powell from Crewe and Shinji Kagawa from Dortmund may well go on to prove to be excellent value, but neither has experienced the hurly burly  Premier League.

Perhaps worryingly for United fans, Ferguson says, although Powell was used as a forward at his former club, it is his stated intention to use him as a central midfield player. Quite what Powell thinks about this would be good to know, but more importantly many observers will be left wondering if this is a sign of desperation on the part of the manager.

Manchester United's problems in central midfield are well documented, this area of the squad is widely accepted as its weakest - the one that needed the most attention this summer. Yet, Ferguson has signed a striker who we are told will eventually be transformed into a central midfield player and in Kagawa we have a potential long-term replacement for Paul Scholes.

There's likely to be a period of adjustment for Powell and Kagawa - who doesn't speak English, but hopefully, they will both settle quickly in the coming weeks and go on to prove their worth.

But, who else will Ferguson sign and who should he be targeting, those questions are a constant source of debate among the Red Army.

According to reports, (don't you just hate that phrase?) Ferguson is trying to sign Brazilian Lucas Moura; now here's the thing, Moura is yet another forward - and so it's worth asking if there's any truth in this rumour?  Not only that, but the same reports claim Moura is wanted by (among others) Real Madrid. Question: so when was the last time United won a transfer battle with Madrid?

Seasoned followers of the club will no doubt concur that we've been down this road before; the pursuit of the unattainable is a well trodden and all too often fruitless path. Back in 2003, the media led us to believe that United had come close to signing Ronaldinho - only for the brilliant samba star to sign for Barcelona and to add insult, he made his debut against United on the Reds US summer tour (yours truly was there).

So, is it fair to ask if this story is just another piece of creative writing - or is it the case that United's spin doctors' have sent the media on another wild goose chase?  Nothing can be ruled out. To those who say that is too far fetched, whoever would have thought Ferguson would have sanctioned the £7.5m transfer of Bebe and then to our consternation admit he'd never seen him kick a ball?

That leads us nicely on to United's latest summer tour. Hard to believe, but some fans are actually claiming to be 'excited' about the prospects of the squad which has been described as a 'mixture of youth and experience' - that's one way of describing them. The more cynical among us might describe the tourists as a mixture of 'hopefuls, experience, imposters and expensive failures' or even the 'fraud squad' as a time-served Red, jokingly put it.

There's little point in slamming Bebe (again), suffice to say, I wish I had a tenner for every Red who voiced their misguided belief and trust in a player who pretty much from his first kick was plainly never going to make it in a United shirt. 

While, it was obvious from the start that Bebe hadn't any hope in hell, United fans, who to their generally great credit are extremely patient with new signings are now pretty much resigned to the view that Anderson isn't going to make it either.

Anderson was brought in as a potential goal-scoring replacement for Scholes. It's true to state that his progress has been hindered by injuries, but it's also true that he hasn't lived up to his transfer fee - an eye watering £25m. Having made 145 appearances in five seasons and having scored just seven goals, Anderson has proved to be poor value and worse still, he hasn't eased Ferguson's midfield woes. No surprise then that reports are linking Anderson with moves back to Portugal.

Having been up for sale for a lengthy period, and without securing a move, the supremely talented yet all too often frustrating Dimitar Berbatov will also be boarding the flight to South Africa along with the rest of the United squad.

The sad thing is, Berbatov could have gone on to be a United legend, but he has no stomach for the fight and lacks heart; the fans' love his skills, but despair at his lack of application. The Bulgarian made the big mistake of publicly stating "I'm not changing" and that was the final straw for the former steelworker from Govan - aka Ferguson.

So the message to Fergie is this: we are not expecting rave reviews from South Africa and Scandinavia, but we bloody well are expecting you to pull your finger out and bolster midfield, before the season starts.