By James Fletcher
SIR ALEX FERGUSON has revealed his masterplan for winning the Premiership title this season.
In an exclusive News of the World interview, the Old Trafford supremo insisted:
*Replacing Roy Keane is MORE important than replacing Ruud van Nistelrooy.
*Striker Van Nistelrooy has to GO after asking for a transfer three times.
*He will not up his bid for Tottenham midfielder Michael Carrick.
*Portuguese midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo will stay at Manchester United.
*The United boss has no doubt midfield is the key area as he looks to spend a transfer kitty of around £25million.
Keane left Old Trafford for Celtic in the middle of last season and Fergie said: "The main issue for me is the composition of the midfield. We are not looking outside of that.
Quality
"When you lose a player like Roy Keane, which was always going to happen as he was getting older, you have to find a replacement for him.
"It is something I have been looking at for a long time. We have Paul Scholes back after that unfortunate, unusual eye injury and he is back to his best form.
"We also have the quality and experience of Ryan Giggs so it can't be that bad.
"We have youthfulness in John O'Shea — who did a great job for us last year in that position — and Darren Fletcher, so we have some alternatives in there.
"We are trying to sign a couple of players who would add to the variety of our play. They are different types of players to the ones we have. That would only strengthen us."
United have not won the title for four seasons now and Ferguson knows his rivals will be stronger than ever.
Chelsea have brought in Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, Arsenal have added Tomas Rosicky while Liverpool have signed Craig Bellamy and Fabio Aurelio.
Ferguson has yet to sign anyone. He has also had to cope with the fallout from Van Nistelrooy's transfer requests and Ronaldo's World Cup bust-up with Wayne Rooney.
Fergie is adamant Van Nistelrooy, 30, will not be allowed to leave on the cheap, with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich interested in his signature.
He said: "Ruud asked away, it is as simple as that. He asked away before the Arsenal Cup final last year, then asked away through his representative and now has asked away himself in writing.
"Quite frankly, if he wants to leave there really is no point trying to persuade him to stay.
"If a player's heart is not in it then you have to make a decision. I couldn't tell you why he wants to leave or why his heart isn't in it, all I can tell you is he has asked away and we have accepted that."
The United boss refuses to be held to ransom in his search for the players and insists he does not need to bring in a new striker with Rooney, Louis Saha, Alan Smith and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer already at the club.
He has bid £12million for Tottenham's Michael Carrick but revealed the North Londoners want double that for the England midfielder.
Fergie said: "World Cup year is always difficult but we tried to do some fundamental business before the tournament, making a bid for Carrick.
"Tottenham turned down that offer and are looking at something approaching double what we offered. They want to play the long game. We have put a value on him and we will not go above that."
Ferguson is certain Ronaldo will return to United, despite his World Cup bust-up with Rooney.
The Portuguese winger claimed he would have to go and made no secret of his wish to for Real Madrid.
But Fergie said: "Ronaldo will return to Manchester United. We are not in the process of letting our best players go, certainly not our young players.
"There is no rift between Wayne and Cristiano. In fact Wayne has been fantastic throughout all of this, he has handled the whole thing very well.
"I know Wayne has been in touch with Cristiano and I don't anticipate any problems."
Fergie insists he finds the axing of star players one of the most difficult aspects of his job — and believes his reputation for being tough is unfair.
Brutal
Van Nistelrooy will ultimately follow David Beckham, Paul Ince, Nicky Butt and Keane out of Old Trafford but Fergie insists these decisions were all for the long-term good of the club.
He added: "It's unfortunate that, as the years go on, the players you grow attached to grow older. It is a sad fact of life.
"It isn't a case of me being brutal, it just happens. Denis Irwin got to a certain age, Roy Keane, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister retired, Bryan Robson became a manager.
"In our present squad we have Ryan Giggs who is now getting to 33 — hopefully he can play for us for two or three years because he is such a fit lad.
"But we know that, at some point, he will come to the end. It happens.
"Because I have been with this club for so long I have had to deal with that situation with many, many players.
"It maybe gives a false impression of me being ruthless or having to make crucial decisions.
"It is nothing like that. Most of the time it is just common sense — players come to the end of their careers and it just happens."
Source :: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/story_pages/sport/sport2.shtml
SIR ALEX FERGUSON has revealed his masterplan for winning the Premiership title this season.
In an exclusive News of the World interview, the Old Trafford supremo insisted:
*Replacing Roy Keane is MORE important than replacing Ruud van Nistelrooy.
*Striker Van Nistelrooy has to GO after asking for a transfer three times.
*He will not up his bid for Tottenham midfielder Michael Carrick.
*Portuguese midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo will stay at Manchester United.
*The United boss has no doubt midfield is the key area as he looks to spend a transfer kitty of around £25million.
Keane left Old Trafford for Celtic in the middle of last season and Fergie said: "The main issue for me is the composition of the midfield. We are not looking outside of that.
Quality
"When you lose a player like Roy Keane, which was always going to happen as he was getting older, you have to find a replacement for him.
"It is something I have been looking at for a long time. We have Paul Scholes back after that unfortunate, unusual eye injury and he is back to his best form.
"We also have the quality and experience of Ryan Giggs so it can't be that bad.
"We have youthfulness in John O'Shea — who did a great job for us last year in that position — and Darren Fletcher, so we have some alternatives in there.
"We are trying to sign a couple of players who would add to the variety of our play. They are different types of players to the ones we have. That would only strengthen us."
United have not won the title for four seasons now and Ferguson knows his rivals will be stronger than ever.
Chelsea have brought in Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, Arsenal have added Tomas Rosicky while Liverpool have signed Craig Bellamy and Fabio Aurelio.
Ferguson has yet to sign anyone. He has also had to cope with the fallout from Van Nistelrooy's transfer requests and Ronaldo's World Cup bust-up with Wayne Rooney.
Fergie is adamant Van Nistelrooy, 30, will not be allowed to leave on the cheap, with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich interested in his signature.
He said: "Ruud asked away, it is as simple as that. He asked away before the Arsenal Cup final last year, then asked away through his representative and now has asked away himself in writing.
"Quite frankly, if he wants to leave there really is no point trying to persuade him to stay.
"If a player's heart is not in it then you have to make a decision. I couldn't tell you why he wants to leave or why his heart isn't in it, all I can tell you is he has asked away and we have accepted that."
The United boss refuses to be held to ransom in his search for the players and insists he does not need to bring in a new striker with Rooney, Louis Saha, Alan Smith and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer already at the club.
He has bid £12million for Tottenham's Michael Carrick but revealed the North Londoners want double that for the England midfielder.
Fergie said: "World Cup year is always difficult but we tried to do some fundamental business before the tournament, making a bid for Carrick.
"Tottenham turned down that offer and are looking at something approaching double what we offered. They want to play the long game. We have put a value on him and we will not go above that."
Ferguson is certain Ronaldo will return to United, despite his World Cup bust-up with Rooney.
The Portuguese winger claimed he would have to go and made no secret of his wish to for Real Madrid.
But Fergie said: "Ronaldo will return to Manchester United. We are not in the process of letting our best players go, certainly not our young players.
"There is no rift between Wayne and Cristiano. In fact Wayne has been fantastic throughout all of this, he has handled the whole thing very well.
"I know Wayne has been in touch with Cristiano and I don't anticipate any problems."
Fergie insists he finds the axing of star players one of the most difficult aspects of his job — and believes his reputation for being tough is unfair.
Brutal
Van Nistelrooy will ultimately follow David Beckham, Paul Ince, Nicky Butt and Keane out of Old Trafford but Fergie insists these decisions were all for the long-term good of the club.
He added: "It's unfortunate that, as the years go on, the players you grow attached to grow older. It is a sad fact of life.
"It isn't a case of me being brutal, it just happens. Denis Irwin got to a certain age, Roy Keane, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister retired, Bryan Robson became a manager.
"In our present squad we have Ryan Giggs who is now getting to 33 — hopefully he can play for us for two or three years because he is such a fit lad.
"But we know that, at some point, he will come to the end. It happens.
"Because I have been with this club for so long I have had to deal with that situation with many, many players.
"It maybe gives a false impression of me being ruthless or having to make crucial decisions.
"It is nothing like that. Most of the time it is just common sense — players come to the end of their careers and it just happens."
Source :: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/story_pages/sport/sport2.shtml
