July 01, 2009
FORMER United defender Steve Bruce reckons Sir Alex Ferguson has added another gem to United's diamond collection with Antonio Valencia.

The 23-year-old Ecuadorian completed his £16m move to Old Trafford from Wigan on Tuesday hoping to go some way to filling Cristiano Ronaldo's boots.

"Antonio is a diamond of a kid. A real top, top boy," new Sunderland manager Bruce told M.E.N. Sport.

"He is a wonderful player and I cannot speak highly enough of him."

Valencia, who scored three goals for Wigan last season, is expected to help fill the void left by Ronaldo following the star winger's £80m move to Real Madrid.

And Bruce, who inherited Valencia when he became Wigan boss in November 2007, has little doubt that the winger will cope on the bigger stage.

"It is unfair for anyone to make comparisons with Ronaldo. For anyone having to endure that it would be struggle.

"Forget the Ronaldo's heir business and let the fans and United team-mates judge him as a player in his own right.

"If they do that they won't be disappointed. Certainly his new colleagues would be delighted with him because he is a team player.

"For me he is the complete player. He is prepared to track back and do the leg work. He is big and powerful and let me tell you he is a real tough cookie.

"Nobody will knock Antonio off the ball. He's very hard. He has got terrific strength and certainly not a shrinking violet.

"How many wingers can you say that about?

Explosive

"He is wonderfully quick as well. Excellent and explosive off the mark.

"There aren't many wingers like him around these days. If I could give United fans a picture of what they could be buying then I'd say he is not unlike my former team-mate in the early 90s, Andrei Kanchelskis.

"Andrei was quick, strong and able to steam past a defender. Antonio is very similar.

"His stats at Wigan were phenomenal. He ran further than anyone else, worked harder than anyone else and did all that at pace. It was tremendous.

"Any United fan who remembers the Wigan match at Old Trafford in January when United won 1-0, Valencia was superb that game.

"I think that was the deciding night for Sir Alex Ferguson. I think he had him watched every game after that.

"Valencia wasn't dragged down by the stage that night but will he sustain it in a United shirt? I think he can handle it because he is a strong and great character," added Bruce. "I think he'll flourish on the big stage.

"He will improve and become a better player playing with the calibre of player he'll be alongside at Old Trafford."

Valencia will certainly have to up his goal-scoring game if he is going to make inroads into helping to make up for the loss of Ronaldo's output. "He will never be a Cristiano Ronaldo and scoring is the one area he really does have to improve," said Bruce.

"But where is there another winger like Ronaldo who scores that many goals? Normally you are looking for your wide players to contribute double figures and I think if he becomes a little bit more selfish then Antonio can supply that amount."