Valencia managed to hold on to their prized assets in the summer but as their financial troubles show no sign of letting up, it looks increasingly likely they will lose one if not both in the winter.

Ferguson chose not to reinvest the bulk of the £80 million received in the world record transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo over the summer; opting instead to give his existing squad an opportunity and keep well clear of the inflated transfer fees being bounded about.

But as United chase silverware on all fronts, it looks clear that we are short of one or two top players and Fergie may well be lining up a swoop for the highly rated Spanish stars.

David Villa is one of the world’s top rated strikers and is on many club’s shortlist. He finished top scorer at Euro 2008 and was the 3rd most prolific striker in La Liga last term. Despite previously stating his preference to stay in Spain, it is unknown whether Barcelona (who are reportedly after Robinho) or Real Madrid (who signed Benzema to partner Raul up front) would bid for the 27 year old meaning he may be more open to the idea of a move to England.

In bringing Villa to United, Ferguson would have some tough decisions to make up front. Would Michael Owen become surplus to requirements? Would Dimitar Berbatov become third choice striker? Villa certainly wouldn’t join to sit on the bench so a front pairing or Rooney and Villa seems most obvious and does make your moth water just thinking about it.

United do have a decent number of options up front but is it really enough? Dimitar Berbatov impresses on occasions but question marks still hang over the Bulgarian’s work rate. Even if you ignore his lethargic approach to the game, 3 goals (against Stoke, Wigan and Sunderland) in 14 appearances just isn’t enough.

Michael Owen has managed to match Berbatov’s tally of 3 having played less than half the football of the Bulgarian. Owen will get goals; we already know that but surely he’s not of the calibre required to lead the line on a regular basis?

The other David, David Silva, is reportedly keener on a move to England than his compatriot and appears to favour United over any other team in the country.

Silva, 23, can play on either wing or through the middle and has both vision and pace. He too was a member of the Spanish side which won Euro 08 and is also highly rated amongst those in the know of world football.

Antonia Valencia is arguably United’s best winger and as he grows in stature, we can expect to see him make the right wing his own. On the other flank though, all is not so clear cut. It was hoped Nani would step his game up this season but frustratingly, he seems unable to meet the standards set down to him. Park is injured but as with Owen, even fit, he simply doesn’t have the quality to be regarded as a first team regular.

United do have a number of young wingers bursting with potential but in a business when results are key, having a tried and tested member among the ranks would be ideal.

Reports suggest a bid of £50 would be enough to secure the services of Villa and Silva. Both have a lot to offer and would be excellent Manchester United signings. Up front, United perhaps have enough to cope. Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda are both on the fringes of the first team and when you include them in the strike force, you cannot se any room for a world class striker. Not without sales anyway.

David Silva however is the more likely of the two. United may have wingers, but quality wingers are few and far between. Silva would sort that and who knows, perhaps the competition would raise Nani’s game to the level we have been hoping it would reach for a while. Fergie Fergie sign him up!

Football fans who play the popular Football Manager game series were polled to see who they hold in highest regard with Fergie coming out on top; head and shoulders above anyone else. Ferguson received a whopping 26% of the vote, followed by the late Sir Bobby Robson (14%) and Bill Shankly (9%).

Jose Mourinho (4%) and Arsene Wenger (3%) were the only other currently serving managers to make the top ten coming in seventh and eighth respectively. Wenger’s inclusion in the top ten is questionable at best and Mourinho’s presence can only be described as ludicrous.

Still, you can’t argue with popular opinion and popular opinion says that Sir Alex is a legend.

Top Ten Football Managers Of All Time

1. Sir Alex Ferguson – 26%
2. Sir Bobby Robson – 14%
3. Bill Shankly – 9%
4. Brian Clough – 8%
5. Sir Matt Busby – 6%
6. Sir Alf Ramsey – 5%
7. Jose Mourinho – 4%
8. Arsene Wenger – 3%
9. Bob Paisley – 2%
10. Jock Stein – 1%

I’m not sure if Ferguson saw something I didn’t but over the course of the ninety minutes, it seems staggering that the young goalkeeper deserved such high praise. Akinfeev made a couple of good saves and showed fairly good composure during the match but in a game when shots on target were at a premium, the lad made as many blunders as he did top saves.

Early in the match, Akinfeev rushed out to collect a cross but even with a run and jump, the ball sailed way over his head. Luckily for him there was no United player there to capitalise. If there were, the goal was gaping and scoring would have been a dead cert.

He also seemed to struggle with a long shot from Paul Scholes despite being ideally positioned to gather the ball. Any suggestions of an awkward bounce due to the artificial playing surface must be dismissed out of hand due to the number of times he has played on the surface.

Publicly, Ferguson has backed both Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak but everyone knows United are in need of another keeper. Foster and Kuszczak may well figure in Fergie’s plans, but only as understudies. When van der Sar retires, possibly at the end of this campaign, neither are ready to take on the responsibility and Ferguson knows he will need to strengthen.

Akinfeev is one of the best goalkeepers in European football at present and is tipped for a great future. He is ready to fast track his career and sees United as an ideal platform. By publicly praising the keeper, Ferguson has shown his hand. He’s ready to make a move. The only question is will it be in January or will he wait until the summer?

United salvaged a point from the match thanks to an injury time own goal from Anton Ferdinand but rather than point the spotlight at his own players, Ferguson let rip at Alan Wiley claiming he was ‘unfit’ and questioned the referee’s timekeeping.

Whilst Ferguson has a valid point with regard to time keeping, his comments about Wiley’s fitness have landed him in hot water which has led to the gaffer releasing a statement apologising for the post match outburst.

Published on ManUtd.com, the statement reads:

“I apologise to Mr Wiley for any personal embarrassment that my remarks may have caused and to The FA for going public with my views.

“In retrospect, I accept that this could be deemed as expressing those views in an inappropriate forum.

“It was never my intention to bring the focus of intense media attention on Mr Wiley. I intend to contact him personally after I return from a trip overseas during this international break.

“I would wish it to be noted that I have always respected Mr Wiley’s integrity and that I did not state or imply: that Mr Wiley is a bad referee; that he was in any way biased; that decision-making generally during the game was poor, or that he missed any key incident during the game.

“My only intention in speaking publicly, was to highlight what I believe to be a serious and important issue in the game, namely that the fitness levels of referees must match the ever increasing demands of the modern game, which I hope will now be properly addressed through the appropriate formal channels.”

Le Havre reported United to FIFA claiming that they had agreed a contract with the midfielder which was due to come into effect at the start of the 09/10 campaign.

Le Havre also dragged United’s good name through the mud, slinging accusations of bribery our way, however, no report was made to FIFA over these allegations; presumably because the allegations were unfounded.

A judge, appointed to the case by FIFA, ruled that Le Havre couldn’t possibly have any such agreement in place due to the players young age. The ruling clears United of any wrong doing and Pogba may now be registered as a United player with immediate effect.

A club spokesman told ManUtd.com: “Manchester United is pleased to confirm that the Football Association has been authorised by FIFA to register Paul Pogba as a United player with immediate effect.”

Le Havre do have the right to an appeal but given the clarity of FIFA’s ruling, without new evidence, any appeal would almost certainly fail.

The Brazilian international, aged 30, joined Inter in 2005 and is now regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. With Van der Sar turning 40 this month it was hoped either Ben Foster or Tomasz Kuszczak would take the reigns but after failing to impress, it looks like Ferguson will look elsewhere in an attempt to replace the veteran Dutchman.

Rumours began to surface with regard to the keeper on Tuesday when his wife claimed a ‘big club’ had enquired about his availability; a claim dismissed by the player himself.

“I deny everything,” he said. “I have a contract with Inter.”

As we all know, a denial means nothing in football. Until a deal is actually done, I wouldn’t expect the player to say anything else.

Cesar’s agent added fuel to the fire by claiming United have expressed an interest in his client but insisted no firm offer had been made and that the player was hoping to extend his stay with the Nerazzurri.

“United showed their interest for Julio but until now have not made an official offer,” he said. “At the moment we are talking with Inter to renew Julio’s contract, but we have not yet arrived at an agreement. I hope to succeed before the end of the month, that’s my aim.”

Whilst Cesar would be a great signing for the club, I am highly sceptical anything will materialise. The timing is highly suspect; right in the middle of contract negotiations. Surely his agent isn’t trying to increase his client’s value? Perhaps get a little more money out of Inter?

One thing is for sure, if United really are after Cesar, Inter will have to pay the price to keep him. Given his value to the team, I fully expect them to cough up the dough.

Transfer talk or yet another example of agents using the media to line their own pockets? You decide.

Daniel Taylor from The Guardian has gone a step further however and ‘analysed’ all stoppage time played at Old Trafford since the beginning of the 2006/07 season. He has concluded “that the Premier League champions do, as suspected, benefit from an imbalance in the amount of stoppage time that is added to their matches.”

He backs it up by stating that when United were losing or drawing, an average of 257.17 seconds were played compared to 191.35 seconds when they were winning. Bearing in mind of the 60 games they looked at, there was a pool of just 12 games in which United were not winning; hardly a big enough number to draw any meaningful statistics. Still they try.

If you look back into these 12 games in which the ref supposedly did us a favour, you’ll notice they include games like last season’s nil nil draw with Arsenal or the nil nil against Everton. Games with a combined sum of ten yellow cards and no less than 70 fouls. The 3 – 2 win over Aston Villa where Macheda scored his last minute winner; a game with three second half goals.

Similarly, there were five goals, five yellows, one sending off, a penalty and 30 fouls in our humiliating 4 – 1 defeat to Liverpool last season and yet you wonder why there was a bit of extra stoppage time?

What Daniel did bring to light was that of the ‘big four’, it is United who played the least stoppage time at home. Indeed Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal were all given more with average times coming in at 205 seconds for United, 210 for Liverpool, 224 for Arsenal and 229 for Chelsea.

There was speculation the shot stopper could have joined United in the summer but despite a move never materialising, the young keeper is still hopeful.

The Sun quotes him as saying: “CSKA is a great club but every player would love to prove their worth at (Manchester) United.”

Akinfeev broke into CSKA Moscow’s starting lineup at just 17 and has been their first choice keeper ever since. He has made over 150 appearances and picked up a string of honours including two League Championships, a UEFA Cup and has also been voted the best player in the Soviet Union.

Akinfeev is currently Russia’s youngest player to ever play for the national team having made his debut at just 18 years and 20 days in a friendly match with Norway. His competitive debut came less than a year later in a World Cup qualifier against Estonia. He is now Russia’s first choice goalkeeper and has made 35 appearances for the national team. All by the age of 23.

With Edwin van der Sar nearing retirement, Ben Foster not looking ready to take the reigns and Tomasz Kuszczak sitting on the sidelines, Ferguson will be looking to strengthen and we think he couldn’t do much better than Akinfeev.

“I don’t think it will be long before we are the top team in Manchester,” he told the News of the World. “People talk about it being in a year’s time, but I have the belief it can be this season.

“With the squad we have I see no reason why we can’t do amazing things this year. We want to dominate both England and Europe.”

What does he think City can do in one season to overturn the years of domination United have had in Manchester?

Even if City were to win the Premier League, Champion’s League, FA Cup and League Cup, they wouldn’t be the top team in Manchester.

And that is one almighty if. City wont win the Premier League this season and they aren’t even in the Champion’s League. They finished 10th so they’re not in the UEFA Cup or even the Europa League either. It’s going to be a little tricky dominating Europe from the sidelines don’t you think.

United are the top team in Manchester because we’ve won –

• 18 top flight league Championships to City’s 2
• 11 FA Cups to City’s 4
• 5 European Cups to City’s 1
• 11 FA Cups to City’s 4

And Adebayor thinks you can overturn that in a single season? Fuck off Ade, do your homework son.

United received £80 million from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo and many expected Ferguson to spend it all on a couple of world class players. The likes of David Villa, Franck Ribery and Sergio Aguero were frequently mentioned alongside pretty much every other ‘potential star’ in the world.

Ferguson has so far resisted splashing out and has brought in just one player ready for first team football in winger Antonio Valencia. Many suspect Ferguson hasn’t gone anywhere near far enough to plug the gap left by Ronaldo but Ferguson is looking for improvement and he believes he has everything he needs already.

“We have had to replace good players time and time again,” he said. “Sometimes you do it because players get older, sometimes they move on for different reasons or because I might want to change the shape of the team. The important thing is not to get too upset because this club can produce players all the time.

“We are always searching to improve ourselves, but this time the improvement will come from within, definitely.

“The area I am most encouraged by is the young players, numbers-wise we have quite a load of them.

“Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck are developing very well. We also have the Da Silva brothers and we think Darron Gibson is going to be a top player because he has come on fantastically well. Then you have Nani and Anderson who are only 22 and 21.”