Fergie and Wenger set for summer cheque-book battle royal?

It isn't often that Arsene Wenger gives any hint about potential new signings, but prior to Euro 2008 kicking-off the Arsenal manager reeled off a host of names who he expects to do well in the tournament. Perhaps most notable of all was the mention of Lyon's brilliant young striker Karim Benzema who is said to be very much on Fergie's transfer radar.

There are few players who escape the attentions of the continent's leading clubs and there's no doubt that Karim Benzema's name figures highly on the most-wanted lists of a whole host of Europe's top teams, United and Arsenal among them.

However, the very fact that Wenger mentioned Karim Benzema will surely be enough to raise the prospect of a transfer battle between Fergie and Wenger.

Lyon are not considered a big club, they have proven that they are a selling club and for this reason any of their star names will always be considered fair game where speculation is concerned and it is why Wegner's admiring comments about Benzema will ignite talk of a summer move to Arsenal this summer.

Whether or not we can read any more into Wenger's talking so openly about a Karim Benzema is a mute point - does this apparent public declaration of admiration mark a change of policy at the North London club?

Is Wenger ready to trade cheque-book blows with Fergie this summer? The latter seems unlikely given Wenger's prudence in the past. Perhaps Wenger is starting to feel the pressure after three successive fruitless campaigns, added to which he could potentially lose more star names following on from Flamini's Arsenal exit.

Alexander Hleb's agent has spoken to Barcelona among others and Adebayor's name is being linked to Milan - though the latter is likely to stay put in North London for now.

If Wenger did go on to battle with Fergie over the signature of Karim Benzema, it would be a marked changed from the norm. The big problem for both Arsenal and United is that the player may not fancy joining either club.

All in all it looks set to be an interesting summer of transfer speculation for followers of the Champions and Arsenal.

Fergie right to back the Glazer regime over Ronaldo future?

United's double winning manager has once again come out and praised the Glazer family stating that they are 'brilliant owners'. It's by no means the first time that Fergie has been very supportive towards his paymasters and on the future of Cristiano Ronaldo he's been very clear on the club's American owners' position.

According to Ferguson, the Glazer family would sit Ronaldo in the stand rather than sell him to Real Madrid. It's a bold claim especially as the Spanish club could be about to dangle a reported £70m in front of them for the Reds' star player.

Some pundits are saying that the Ronaldo saga is the Glazers’ first real test - in some ways it is, but even those who do not agree with the club's worrying financial position (£794m in the Red) will find it hard to argue that if a player really wants out there's not a lot you can do other than to eventually sell. So United and their owners are in a very tricky situation - it's not as if the Glazer family have been trying to offload the player behind Fergie's back.

I personally hold the view that Fergie has told the Glazers' and David Gill, CEO that his own future hinges on retaining Ronaldo; it is the key to him staying with the club for a further three years. It could be viewed as quite a clever move by Fergie, because by publicly stating the Glazers' position, United's owners have no room to manoeuvre - the spotlight is on them now and by coming out in such a manner Fergie has said "do not dare think about selling Ronaldo behind my back"...

On the wider issue of publicly supporting the Glazer family, at least we know where Fergie stands and even those who are totally opposed to the current debt laden regime cannot deny what the team has achieved under Fergie over the last few seasons. But only over time will we be fully able to judge the Glazers' legacy.

Fergie says that United are now worth £1.3 billion, that is a totally hypothetical figure, it sounds good, but who will pay the asking price? The theory goes that these new owners' aren't interested in generating profit, they are just looking to cash-in further down the line, but there are few Roman Ambramovich's in this world.

If the Glazers' sell the club on for a huge profit coupled with United continuing to win trophies then perhaps Fergie will be able look back and say that he was right to back them all along. If however, the US credit crunch hits home and the debt situation gets out of control there could well be trouble ahead for the Champions of Europe.

Whatever the future holds we won’t be able to turn round and say that Fergie sat on the fence over the Glazer family.

Big clubs using the media to drive transfer talk...

The January transfer window has swung open and not unexpectedly the Red Devils are once again the subject of plenty of speculation. Berbatov's name keeps on cropping up in reports linking him with a move to United. The latest stories centre on the Spurs manager hinting that it will cost the Reds over £30m to acquire the Bulgarian.

For a man who doesn't speak English that well it hasn't taken Ramos long to start using the media as a transfer tool in a bid to get the best deal for Berbatov (you do wonder if the quotes which have been attributed to Ramos have come from someone else...). If United agreed to pay Spurs this hugely inflated asking price for the Bulgarian then the North London club stand to make over £20m on a player who only cost them £10.9m - a very nice piece of business and do not rule it out, but a summer move would be more likely. Why didn't Fergie take a punt on Berbatov when he was available for £10m?

Talking of clubs who use the media to get what they want, Real Madrid are reportedly closing in on Cristiano Ronaldo. Depending on which report you believe, it will cost the Spaniards between £45m and £75m to capture the Portuguese star. A lot will depend on whether or not Ronaldo wants to quit United. He has always said that one day he would like to play in Spain, so it is a question of when and not if.

However, in a week when Ferguson has courted controversy by opening his mouth when shouting down the fans, the United manager did find time to rubbish the stories which have gone as far as claiming that the two clubs are involved in negotiations.

"I anticipated this," Fergie told the official United website.

"The thing about this story is that it has been claimed that David Gill has been speaking to Real Madrid. That is a complete lie.

"We have never spoken to them. The story depends on agents and their imaginations.
"At best it's mischievous, but I just dismiss it because it's nonsense.

While Fergie says the latest stories about negotiations are nothing but lies, it will be interesting to see how far the United manager will go in a bid to retain Ronaldo. Will Ferguson go public like he did earlier this week when attacking the fans? Or will the manager roll over when the Glazers' tell him what their decision is on the future of Ronaldo should Madrid push home their reported interest?

Of other transfer news doing the rounds and despite being short of a striker the stories concerning incoming transfer targets mainly centre on defenders. The latest name to be linked with United is Alan Hutton, the Scotland and Rangers right-back, who has just turned down an £8m move to Spurs. This has led to speculation that Hutton is waiting for United to come in for him.

Wes Brown has been standing in for Gary Neville for most of the season and United have this week let it be known that they've turned down an offer from Newcastle for his services. Is it a coincidence that reports are linking United with Hutton at the very time that Brown is stalling on a new deal? You do wonder what is going on, could it be that United have leaked this story to the press in a bid to get Brown to sign that new contract?

Meanwhile Jonny Evans has rejoined relegation threatened Sunderland. Clearly things have not gone to plan where the Northern Ireland international is concerned, hence this loan move to the Black Cats. It will be interesting to see if Evans can help stem the flow of goals that Roy Keane's team have been conceding.

Festive spirit falls flat as Fergie gives United fans last rites...

Following the narrow 1-0 victory over Birmingham City Fergie went on the offensive when blasting the home supporters for their lack of vocal support. However, no one should be surprised at the lack of atmosphere at this fixture. The night before everyone was out celebrating the New Year until the early hours of the next morning. For many fans New Year's Day is a time for recovering from the events of the night before, and for contemplating the horror that is the return to work. Many fans up and down the country will have been feeling like the proverbial living dead. Even the players who aren't allowed to celebrate like the rest us were off-key against Birmingham, it was at times a very lack-lustre performance by United.

Fergie has every right to complain, but the media are still going on about a similar ill thought out Roy Keane rant about the Old Trafford "Prawn Sandwich brigade" which was made in 2000, this phrase is still being used today to describe the Old Trafford crowd by some in the media.

No doubting some people will also be questioning the poor timing of Fergie's comments given the death of Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell. Though I personally wouldn't say Fergie was wrong on that score. The fact is though that this game will not be remembered because of the wonderful first-half goal which was created by Ronaldo and finished by Tevez, but it will remembered as the game when Fergie likened this match to being at a funeral.

Fergie backing for Big Sam - why talk is cheap...

Predictably and not for the first time, Fergie has backed one of his managerial mates who is coming under fire following a string of poor results. Newcastle have been punching well below their collective weight and their fans expectations for decades and in a somewhat patronising attempt to help his buddy, Fergie has stated that Newcastle have never recovered from the 5-0 thumping of Manchester United a few seasons ago when Keegan was their manager. The Geordies will just love Fergie for saying that.

Let us not forget that Fergie also backed another of his mates David "my young boys" O'Leary, who at the time was managing Aston Villa. Fergie's backing for O'Leary came at a time when the Villa boss was under fire following a run of poor results which led to abuse from their fans. It should also be noted that the Reds boss had sold Villa, Djemba-Djemba, of who some fans say he was so bad that they named him twice. Eric is now on loan at Burnley.

Fergie also sold Alan Smith to Newcastle and in doing so he recouped most of the £7m transfer fee that he'd forked out to acquire him from Leeds United. It was a decent piece of business from the Reds perspective, but one which Newcastle fans may well have mixed views on.

So while it's all very well Fergie talking the talk, it's not beyond him to offload unwanted stars when the need arises, because his actions have spoken louder than words when it comes to 'helping his mates' on occasion. So Fergie's platitudes should clearly not be taken that seriously.

Fergie has also gone on record telling fans of Manchester United that they should not expect any say in the running of their club, perhaps he should be told to keep his nose out of other clubs business.

On the wider point about sacking managers, as Fergie would no doubt concur, it's the club owners who have to make those decisions. These top-flight managers are in most cases multi-millionaires, no one should feel a grain of sympathy for any of them. On that note, what could be better than seeing Shearer fall flat on his face should he replace Big Sam?

One thing is for sure, Fergie cannot question the football knowledge of Mike Ashley the Newcastle owner, given that the Manchester United manager has expressed his support for the Glazers on so many occasions.

Mourinho to be United's next manager?

Jose Mourinho leaving Chelsea is without doubt one of the biggest stories in football for a long time. Predictably we are being told that several key players including Didier Drogba are furious. It seems his most loyal players might follow him out of the door. The big question is where to?

Yesterday, Mourinho and his team were locked in discussions about his settlement package. Today we have been told that all contractual matters have been resolved. Apart from agreeng the huge pay-off for the remainder of his contract, you do wonder if Chelsea have inserted a clause stating that Mourinho cannot join rivals Manchester United. If it happened that would be an even bigger story than leaving Chelsea.

As all football fans will be aware, Ferguson is on a rolling contract and he could go at any time, possibly as early as next summer. It could be a case of perfect timing, that's if United fancy Jose and he fancied the challenge of managing a proper football club.

Should such a move happen, I'm not convinced the appointment would be greeted with deep joy as far as the massed ranks of the Red Army are concerned. Jose's teams do not play in the best traditions of United. What's more Mourinho is something of a loose cannon and here again would this be to the liking of United's owners and senior management team?

Mourinho's record is one of success and lots of it, but there's a trade-off between winning and style. Jose would actually be more suited to Liverpool, who by tradition have a built teams that have been greater than the sum of the individual parts, that ethos was laid down by Shankly and it still true to a point today, though obviously to a much lesser extent in their recent barren years, sans Premier League titles.

I personally doubt Mourinho will replace Fergie, but it will no doubt be up for discussion by United's power-brokers.

There would be other huge problems to overcome. Assuming Mourinho wanted the likes of Drogba and Carvalho to join him. And assuming Chelsea could not stop Jose from joining United for one moment, they'd move heaven and earth to stop their players moving to the Reds.