United still among the best – Ferguson

(GSM) – Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson insists the club can still compete for the biggest prizes in football, dismissing unsettled star Wayne Rooney’s claim of the opposite.

The England striker announced his intention to depart Old Trafford after claiming that the club can no longer attract the best players in the world.

But Ferguson has faith in his squad and has backed the youngsters to shine as veterans Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville approach their retirement dates.

“There’s not a thing wrong with Manchester United, not a thing wrong with it. I’ve only won 27 trophies,” said Ferguson.

“We realised a few years ago that Giggs, Scholes and Neville were never going to last for ever and so our policy is to develop footballers in their place.

“I had a player once who said to me that Rooney and (Cristiano) Ronaldo weren’t good enough and he was not prepared to wait until they were good enough.

“But that’s the trouble with potential. People don’t identify potential. They’re very poor at it.

“I’ve identified all my life the potential in young people. I know potential. I know how to develop and have faith in it. And young people surprise you when given the opportunity. That’s what this club is all about.

“When you see Manchester United at the moment with all these young players, 14 aged under 22, you can’t see Manchester United three years ahead.”

Ferguson insists he is not concerned over the club’s current position and believes that the youngsters have the potential to eventually bring success to the club.

“We have a structure at the club which is good,” he added. “We’ve the right staff, the right manager, the right chief executive, who is a brilliant man.

“It’s difficult to maintain a cycle of more than four years at a time. At the end of the day, we lost a fourth successive title by a point. It would have been a record. We don’t like that and we’ll try to do something about that. But we’ll be there. We’ll be OK. I have every confidence in that.”

Meanwhile the legendary Scot manager has reiterated that funds will be available if he needs to make any key acquisitions.

He said: “We will invest for signature players when the time is ready but this summer was not right for me.

“There was one player, yes, we would have liked to have got and he chose another club. I don’t think he wanted to come to England.

“Some players don’t want to leave their country and it’s a fact of life. If they don’t want to leave, we just forget about it.”