[Sparx]

I'm posting the Man UTD section from the article posted on BBC Sport

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MANCHESTER UNITED


Nickname: Red Devils
Ground: Old Trafford
Capacity: 68,210
Last season: 2nd
Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson (November 1986)

In: Michael Carrick (Tottenham, £18.6m), Tomasz Kuszczak (West Brom, loan)

Out: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Plymouth, £200,000), Quinton Fortune (Bolton), Tim Howard (Everton), Eddie Johnson (Bradford), Tommy Lee (Macclesfield), Phil Picken (Chesterfield), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, £500,000), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid, £10.2m), Ben Foster (Watford, loan)

BBC Sport verdict: A crucial season to try to end the Chelsea dominance, but the sole outfield capture of Michael Carrick does not bode well.

United look short of goals without Ruud van Nistelrooy, while the men who will shoulder the burden of replacing the Dutchman, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Louis Saha, are too injury-prone.

A fit-again Paul Scholes and Gabriel Heinze are a huge boost but the club are probably playing for second once more.

Key man: Wayne Rooney. Must steer clear of injury and controversy this season.



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[Red Devil]

Tomasz Kuszczak (West Brom, loan)

Thought we had bought him outright?

 

[SalfordRed]

Nope, we’ve only got him on loan for the year; however he is out of contract at the end of the season and we’ve agreed a three year contract in principle with him. Basically he is a loaner this year and a Bosman signing next summer.

Of course we can’t actually get the contract signed until early next year, and there is absolutely nothing stopping the lad buggering off elsewhere if he so desires. Verbal agreements don’t exactly count for much in football these days, and come January every single club on the planet will have a right to offer him a contract.

EDIT: Should add, look at those three forwards in the out list. Add Cooper and Bellion going in the middle of last season and you've got five out over the past year. We are very very short of bodies having cleared out everyone between the first team and the apprentices bar Rossi. Two injuries at once and we are struggling for an option to put on the bench, and we'll certainly be forced to use Rossi, ready or not.

 

[Scott the Red]

People keep harping on about Saha being injury prone, but it's a load of bollocks. Oh, and it would be nice if they knew our capacity aswell.

Sky Sports have us down for finishing 4th this season lol. But then again, Sky Sports did say United were in decline last November, that Fergie would leave at the end of the season, and we'd be lucky to finish in the top 3. Oh, and they also said we'd struggle today and walk away with a 2-2 draw.

 

[SalfordRed]

People keep harping on about Saha being injury prone, but it's a load of bollocks.

People talk about him being injury prone because he is Love to know how you can regard this as bollocks given his record. His spell at Newcastle was wrecked by injury, his career in France was interspersed with endless injuries, and his two and a half seasons at OT have seen him spend as much time in the treatment room as on the pitch. It was only at Fulham that he managed to string together some solid seasons action, but even there he had one season virtually written of in its entirety. He has managed just three 30 game seasons in his career.