i think SAF is keepin the 80mil to buy ronaldo back??? maybe 2 yrs from now.

£183,000 a week – followed by a 25 per cent pay rise in each of the following five years of his contract. This would amount to £556,000 a week in the final year of his contract.

Off to England on Wednesday lads. Will be at Old Trafford to watch the Bolton game on the 17th. I'm absolutely giddy!!!

what happened to Park Ji Sung? I havent seen much of him. SAF played Valencia more than him, am i right? The last and probably the only time i saw him playing was against City...

all blames on Rio for England lost. Guess he's losing his form edi... Time for Evans to step up?

eh, i though friendly....
btw, england Q already, so rooney can rest a bit. 

England striker Wayne Rooney will miss Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier with Belarus because of a calf injury.

The Manchester United forward picked up the injury during Saturday's 1-0 defeat away to Ukraine in the Dnipro Stadium and has withdrawn from the England squad.

After having the injury assessed at the Three Lions' training base in Hertfordshire, he has been sent back to Old Trafford for treatment. Rooney will now face a race to be fit for United's Premier League encounter with Bolton.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard will remain with the England squad after having his groin injury assessed. Gerrard only lasted until half-time in Ukraine.

Unless injury hits one of his other four strikers, Capello is unlikely to call in a replacement for Rooney.

The Italian has the option of pushing Gerrard into a more advanced position, which he plays in so successfully for Liverpool.

Alternatively, he could pair Carlton Cole with Emile Heskey, or possibly Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was an unused substitute on Saturday.

Louis van Gaal has revealed that he was all set to replace Sir Alex Ferguson in 2002 until the Manchester United boss had a change of heart.

Ferguson had announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2001/02 campaign and the Red Devils quickly set about lining up a replacement.

Van Gaal had established a glowing reputation from his days at Ajax and Barcelona, and was in charge of the Dutch national side when United came calling.

He admits he held talks with Peter Kenyon - then United's chief executive - about the prospect of taking the reins at Old Trafford, and agreed in principle on a deal to join the Premier League giants.

However, Ferguson staged a spectacular U-turn on his retirement plans and remains in charge of the Red Devils to this day.

"It was before the World Cup of 2002," said now Bayern Munich boss Van Gaal.

"I was in contact with Manchester United through Peter Kenyon.

"It was said to me that Alex Ferguson was going to retire.

"The moment he'd go, I'd succeed him. But in the end Ferguson didn't want to quit."

i wonder who is the best choice to replace SAF if ever he retires...
guys, any ideas??

United fans can finally get a glimpse of summer signing Gabriel Obertan in action tonight, as he lines up for the Reserves in a Manchester Senior Cup tie against Oldham Athletic.

The French winger has been sidelined with spine trouble since his move from Bordeaux, but will start for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side at Hyde United's Ewen Fields as he aims to kickstart his Reds career.

Brazilian full-back Rafael also returns from injury, having sufficiently recovered from shoulder trouble, and he is joined by brother Fabio, Scott Wootton and Oliver Gill in defence. Ben Amos will keep goal.

Matty James, Sam Hewson, Oliver Norwood and Robbie Brady make up the remainder of the midfield with Obertan, while Febian Brandy will lead the line as a lone striker.

Triallist goalkeeper Daniel Lloyd-Western will be on the substitutes' bench, alongside William Keane, Magnus Eikrem and Joshua King.

The match kicks-off at 19:00 BST, with MUTV's live and exclusive coverage beginning at 18:30 BST.

United's defence of the Manchester Senior Cup continued with a routine group stage win over Oldham Athletic, while the intriguing subplot was provided by an impressive 45-minute cameo from Gabriel Obertan.

The French winger caught the eye with his sleight of foot and devastating speed during an opening half in which quickfire goals from Febian Brandy and Sam Hewson essentially took the points, while Joshua King bagged his third goal in as many games to add late gloss to the scoreline.

Brandy, back in action at club level after returning from England's nightmare U-20 World Cup campaign, twice came close to opening the scoring inside 20 minutes, but was off-target with a glancing header and a powerful low shot.

Shortly afterwards, however, a neat one-two with Hewson culminated in the striker's release, clean through on goal. Inevitably, the former Swansea City loanee clinically dispatched the finish into the corner.

Within a minute, United's lead had doubled as Obertan released Fabio, and the Brazilian's surging run into the area presented Hewson with a simple conversion from inside the six-yard box.

Oldham - skippered by United Academy graduate Kieran Lee - were simply unable to live with their visitors' pace in attack, and the Reds continued to dominate matters throughout the remainder of the first half. Robbie Brady curled a free-kick just wide, while only a telling interception prevented Brandy from tapping in another Fabio cross.

On the opposite full-back berth, Rafael enjoyed an impressive return from injury of his own, and both he and the influential Obertan were removed at the interval after playing important first half roles. Magnus Eikrem and Joshua King were introduced in their place.

The removal of Obertan in particular seemed to affect the Reds' cohesion in attack, and it took 15 minutes for a decent opening to rear its head. Matty James couldn't apply the finishing touch to Brandy's half-cleared cross, however, and he slashed his effort off-target.

Norwood saw a cross deflected across the face of goal, while Hewson's bouncing effort was finger-tipped just wide by Josh Ollerenshaw, but it was United counterpart Ben Amos who was busier during the latter stages. Twice the Reds stopper had to produce smart saves, most eye-catchingly tipping away a powerful close-range effort from substitute Patrik Tischler

It was United's own subsitutes who had the final say, however, as Eikrem helped on Gill's through-ball for King, who advanced on goal before calmly slotting home in added time.

United: Amos; Rafael (Eikrem, 46), Wootton, Gill, Fabio; James, Hewson (W Keane, 68), Norwood; Obertan (King, 46), Brandy, Brady.
Sub not used: Lloyd-Weston.

should be adler.. but getting young goalkeeper is always a gamble.. u may getting a casillas, but most of the time u'll have a foster

do u really think he will play until he's 41? i love to be proved wrong but i just cant see it will happens.. plus his concentration may just drop significantly which could affects us big time

Before you diss a could be first-team Brazil player WC over Dani Alves, you should think who this guy is, how does he play, his passion for the game and 28 is really old eh? And yes he's a right-back but without him inter will crumble offensively

here cursing Inter fans for jeering Milito's pass.

Reserves assistant manager Warren Joyce saved special praise for Rafael and Gabriel Obertan, after the pair emerged unscathed from their first competitive outing of the season.

The pair both completed 45 minutes of the Reserves' 3-0 Manchester Senior Cup win over Oldham on Monday, and Joyce was quick to stress that they were only substituted to adhere to a carefully considered reintroduction programme.

"The boys were coming back from injuries and they were only planned to play 45 minutes," Joyce told MUTV ."Rafa's worked really hard to get his fitness levels back. He's an enthusiastic, bubbly character and I thought his fitness levels looked good tonight."

Everyone's eyes, however, were focused on how French winger Obertan would fare in his first game in a United shirt.

"Obertan, some of the quality touches and his movement were excellent, and his fitness levels looked really good as well," added Joyce. "I think (physio) John Davin's shown him one or two tricks during his rehab! Some of his touches were excellent.

"He was inventive, he received it well and his movement off the ball was good as well, so he can be very pleased.

"He's been desperate to get that 45 minutes under his belt, he's been desperate to do even more training than he's done."

Tosic, Nani, Berba.. anyone else scored?