Fergie’s still after a new karim

MANCHESTER UNITED still have not given up hope of landing Karim Benzema.

Boss Alex Ferguson lost out in his first attempt to sign the 22-year-old last summer, when he was outbid by Real Madrid.

The France striker made a £31million switch from Lyon. But he has been a flop for the Spanish giants, who are now ready to sell for around £25m.

Benzema has started only 14 La Liga games this season and scored just eight league goals.

United's owners, the Glazers, are desperate to make a big-name signing to silence some of the opposition to their reign.

Nemanja Vidic could be used as a £10m makeweight in a Benzema deal.

Player review: Van der Sar

Edwin returned after a frustrating season's start to marshall the defence with aplomb...

Story of the season A broken finger and hand injury in United’s pre-season clash with Bayern Munich disrupted Edwin’s start to 2009/10; he had to wait until 17 October for his first competitive outing, the 2-1 home win over Bolton Wanderers. But that was one of only five league starts before mid-January, a knee problem and family illness curtailing his involvement till the New Year. “It’s been a stop-start season for me which has been frustrating,” he said on his return. “But to finally play again feels great.” The feeling was mutual for United. From his first game back, a 3-0 win over Burnley – in which he became United’s oldest post-War player at 39 years 79 days – he proved as influential as ever. His cool, calm demeanour, experience, still-agile shot-stopping and outstanding distribution were major assets to the team. The back five looked solid again, and Edwin was at the heart of it.

Finest moment A save in a 4-0 win at Bolton might not seem like much excuse to crack open the bubbly, but Edwin’s stunning fingertip stop from Fabrice Muamba – which won ManUtd.com’s Save of the Season award – was a season standout. Against the run of play, the Reds had opened the scoring with a bizarre Jlloyd Samuel own-goal in a game where the home side constantly threatened. Only a flying leap from van der Sar stopped Muamba’s prodded shot from finding the top corner. Half-time came, the tide turned at the Reebok, and United ran out comfortable winners.

What’s in store? Despite speculation throughout the season that Edwin was on the verge of retirement, he signed a one-year contract extension and will remain a calming influence on both players and fans for one more term at least. Beyond that only time will tell but, at these high levels, who knows?

ManUtd.Com

 

We'll win it next year

Nani admitted United felt desperately disappointed after so narrowly missing out on the Barclays Premier League title, but he is adamant that the Reds will be back stronger and even more determined to win the trophy back in 2010/11.

 Chelsea finished a point above the Reds this season, but Nani says the Reds rued missed opportunities to overtake the Blues during the run-in.

“We are disappointed,” he told MUTV. “We were so close. We had a lot of chances to win the league [but didn’t take them]. Against Chelsea at home we didn’t win and that was the game that we lost the league.

“We hoped for the best result for us today, but it didn’t happen. Chelsea did so well this season and we were 90 per cent sure that they would win against Wigan. When Chelsea scored the Stoke fans celebrated all their goals and we knew what was going on.”

But despite the disappointment, Nani was not wholly downbeat. “We still have to be confident about next season,” he added. “Next year we will be fantastic because we will show that we are strong and we will work hard. We did so well and it was quite equal between ourselves and Chelsea. You could say we deserved to win the title as well. But we have to forget about this and think about next season.

“We’ll be strong next season. United is a very strong club, we have a very strong mentality. We didn’t win the league this season, but next time we will.”

We'll be back

Sir Alex Ferguson was gracious but defiant after his hopes of a fourth consecutive title were crushed by Carlo Ancelotti's free-scoring Chelsea.

United's rivals beat Wigan Athletic 8-0 at home, to render academic the Reds' own emphatic 4-0 win over Stoke City at Old Trafford. "I didn't know what the Chelsea score was [in the second half]. But at half-time I accepted they were going to be champions," Sir Alex told MUTV.

Gary Caldwell's red card and Frank Lampard's subsequent penalty conversion put Chelsea 2-0 up after 32 minutes and meant the rest of the afternoon's activity largely a formality. "We felt it would be difficult for Wigan to get something and when we heard they were down to ten men, all our hopes evaporated," Sir Alex added. "We applaud Chelsea. We know how hard it is to win the title - it's the hardest league in the world and we've won it for the last three years. I congratulate Carlo Ancelotti on a wonderful achievement. He's a good manager and a good guy."

But Sir Alex quickly turns his thoughts to challenging for the 2010/11 championship. "We won the last three titles," he said. "That was fantastic and the players have been great. We'll come back next year, that's exactly what Manchester United do."

Earlier, the manager was on the pitch for his traditional end-of-season speech to the fans. "The players and the supporters have always been magnificent and you've been magnificent again. We can be proud that we've challenged hard for a fourth title in a row. Next season we'll go again and bring back the title to the best place in the world."

United have a day to ferget

MANCHESTER UNITED'S season ended in bitter disappointment and demonstrations yesterday.

Alex Ferguson's side lost the title at Old Trafford as the fans protested once again against the Glazers, the hugely unpopular owners.

Before the match the club's megastore had a smoke bomb set off in it, fans tried to storm the directors' entrance, while a plane flew above the ground carrying a banner saying 'Glazers out'.

And all Fergie has to show for his 24th season in charge at United is the Carling Cup.

Plus he had to suffer defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and an FA Cup exit at the hands of League One Leeds.

Now Fergie admits he may have to plunder the transfer market to regain the title next season.

He said: "Did I always make the right team selections with the appropriate tactics? Do we have a strong enough squad?

"I have to weigh up whether to move into the transfer market, considering our own youth development and our players.

"It's an assessment that has to be set against injuries, bad luck and the fact there is a harder competitive edge in the League these days."

United sunk Stoke 4-0 thanks to Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs, Ji-Sung Park and an own goal.

But Chelsea crushed Wigan 8-0 to win the title by a point.

Fergie puts his trust in Wigan

ALEX FERGUSON assessed Manchester United's title D-Day tomorrow and admitted: Wigan are our only hope.

The champions must put their trust in their North West neighbours doing them a huge favour and taking something at leaders Chelsea.

And if they do, there is a strong chance United could be back in power - providing they see off Stoke.

 

Perhaps Fergie read The Sun's historic Election Day front page on Thursday morning as he said all he and his team can do is hope.

Fergie is known for his allegiance to the Labour Party and will be praying tomorrow is a better day for the Reds than yesterday.

The United boss said: "All I know is we are in that situation where we hope, that's all we can do - hope. We have confidence Wigan will do their best and try.

"There's no question about that. We can do our job and it's pointless going expecting anything from Chelsea in our favour.

"In a way it helps us because we can express ourselves as we did last week against Sunderland.

"If it goes to the last game of the season as it's done five times here - yeah, so what? It's not a problem for us. You don't mind winning anything with the last kick."

United have an eye on Anelka

MANCHESTER UNITED are ready to nick Nicolas Anelka if his contract negotiations at Chelsea collapse.

The striker, 31, has only one year left on his Blues deal.

Talks are close to completion on a new two-year offer but United are ready to pounce if anything goes wrong.

Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson is a long-time admirer of the well-travelled hitman.

He first looked at signing Anelka when he went on loan to Liverpool in 2002 and almost swooped again before he left Bolton for Chelsea in an £18million deal in January 2008.

The United gaffer landed Dimitar Berbatov from Spurs but the £30.75m signing has been a flop.

Fergie wants Anelka to replace the Bulgarian and he could get his man for a bargain £8m fee.

United want someone to support Wayne Rooney up front. Roo has 34 goals this season but United's next best is Berbatov on 12.

Anelka was the Premiership's top scorer last season with 19 and has 13 goals so far this campaign.