THE DAY Sir Alex Ferguson stops being excited by lavishly gifted young players pushing at the door of Manchester United's first team will surely be the day he quits the job he has held for nearly 22 years.
Three months ago United prevailed in a penalty shoot-out to push Chelsea into the runners-up spot in the Champions League, just as they had done in the Premier League. Ferguson is not one to forget what players have done for him and the club, as evin
ced by his gratitude to Wayne Rooney for "sacrificing himself" in unaccustomed wide roles and his description of Gary Neville as a "remarkable person".
Yet when he looks ahead to a fresh campaign, starting in earnest with Newcastle United's visit today, what really sets him purring is the talent of a teenager unknown to all but the Old Trafford aficionados as the squad cavorted in the hard rain of Moscow.
Rafael Da Silva, 18, is a Brazilian right-back hailed as "a sensation" by the United manager after a pre-season friendly at Peterborough, the club managed by Ferguson's son Darren. The 66-year-old had worn a distracted look, perhaps pondering his attempts to recruit a striker, until Da Silva's name was raised.
"He's some player, the boy," Ferguson said, as if he were drooling over some tanner ba' player back at Broomloan Road Primary. Good enough to dislodge England's Wes Brown or the fit-again Neville? "That's what happens in football. Some guy comes out of nowhere and takes your position. Doesn't matter whether you're an old player or a younger one."
Whether or not Da Silva makes the starting 11 for Ferguson's reunion with Kevin Keegan (and Rafa has a twin, Brazil under-18s left-back and captain Fabio, who is also at United), the exchange spoke volumes for the Scot's enduring appetite for the fray and the way it is constantly nourished by the progression of young players.
Some of the fledglings go on to become veterans and United will again look to Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, all three "dinosaurs" (as Fergie affectionately characterised them) showing an exhilarating reluctance to act their age. Neville, whose current contract expires next summer, will be offered a new deal, while Giggs led the entire squad in the close-season endurance tests.
Indeed, when Chelsea captain John Terry suggested that the double champions had peaked, it smacked of an ill-judged attempt at psychological warfare, with scant regard to the potential and pedigree of United's squad. What is true is that Ferguson is short, at least temporarily, of attacking options; hence his pursuit of Dimitar Berbatov, Tottenham's Bulgarian centre-forward. Cristiano Ronaldo, after a summer of flirting with Real Madrid, will not play until early October because of an ankle injury, and while United are anything but a one-man team, he amassed 42 goals last season, equal to the total scored by Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Louis Saha.
Ferguson is looking to Rooney, who will play against Newcastle after shaking off a virus, to compensate for Ronaldo's absence by rediscovering his touch in front of goal. Like Mark Hughes before him, the 22-year-old is a scorer of great goals rather than a great goalscorer. His best season, 2005-06, produced a merely respectable 16. That year he played off an out-and-out striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy, whereas last season he often hugged the touchlines in a unit of three behind the main forward.
"What we're going to try to do is avoid playing Rooney out wide," Ferguson said, referring to a ploy reputed to have been the brainchild of Carlos Queiroz, his former No.2 and successor to Luiz Felipe Scolari as Portugal coach. "He has proved himself as a striker playing through the middle. His movement, aggression and strength are great qualities there."
Where many perceive a snarling young man, wallowing in cash and celebrity status, Ferguson sees a mature young man. "You would hope (with Ronaldo out] Rooney would step up. It wouldn't be a surprise if he took on responsibility because he has always been that type. The goals Ronaldo has given us these past two years are something hopefully we won't miss. We hope someone else will start contributing in a big way. Wayne could do that."
Ferguson probably did not mean to sound patronising towards Keegan when he said that "Kevin always has a go". United, however, should have sufficient firepower to overcome a team once regarded as genuine rivals for supremacy, if not by a margin remotely resembling the 6-0 rout in January that prompted the Messiah's second, less-than-miraculous coming on Tyneside.
Keegan is unlikely to find himself going head to head with Ferguson for the title next spring. The United manager, though by no means dismissive of Arsenal or Liverpool, expects that role to be assumed by Scolari now that Brazil's World Cup-winning coach of 1998 has taken over at Chelsea from Avram Grant (who Ferguson called "a nice lad" with a warmth it is hard to imagine him mustering for Arsene Wenger or Rafael Benitez).
The pair do not know each other yet, although Ferguson did warn his new adversary of one culture shock awaiting him. "He has worked in Brazil, Japan and the Middle East, but our league is different from what he's used to. In fact, it's unique in terms of the number of games: Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday almost all season. You're on the go all the time and you don't get many breaks. Germany have a winter break, whereas our most intense programme is actually in December, over Christmas and New Year. It's a severe test, not just for the players but for the managers."
Not that he expects Scolari, whose dual quest to make Chelsea successful and popular begins at home to Portsmouth today, to be fazed by a frost. "Look at his experience. Look at the players they've got. They were fantastic last season," said Ferguson, talking up his rivals in a manner that suggests he is confident of frustrating them all over again.
The full article contains 1028 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
