Manchester United’s John O’Shea has admitted he expects manager Sir Alex Ferguson to add some new faces to the squad before the end of the transfer window.
Aside from the Cristiano Ronaldo saga, the Premier League Champions have been relatively quiet in the transfer market this summer with no big names arriving as yet.
However, United have been rumoured to be in the hunt for a striker with several names linked to the club such as Dimitar Berbatov, Roque Santa Cruz and Klaas Jan Huntelaar, yet so far none have arrived.
According to O’Shea, this is a situation that is likely to change, as despite winning the Champions League and the Premier League last season, the Irishman admits that the club cannot afford to stand still. As reported by sportinglife.com, he confessed: “We need to keep improving again. That is the way this club is.”
The challenge for United this season will be to try and retain both trophies and the versatile United man speculated that if the Champions were to fail in this challenge, the manager would be quick to change the side.
“It wasn't bad winning the double but if we don't keep winning, the manager will definitely change things,” he said before adding, “I am sure he will have a few ideas in mind anyway. The deadline is a few weeks away yet so we might have a new face or two.”
More Than Just Ability
The Irishman was also confident that whoever Ferguson chose to buy this summer, he would be the right player. Ferguson’s recent signings such as Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Anderson have all succeeded at the club and O’Shea was backing his manager to continue his successful recruiting.
“It is not just about footballing ability. When you are spending such large sums of money, you have to get everything right,” revealed O’Shea before adding, “It is about the personality and how they fit into the club. He wants to be sure they will not upset things. More often than not he gets it spot on.”
Whilst O’Shea is largely a squad player at Old Trafford, he did manage 28 league appearances for the Red Devils last season and is looking forward to the new campaign.
The Champions kick off proceedings in the Community Shield against Portsmouth on Saturday, only weeks after having played the FA Cup winners in a friendly match in Nigeria. United won the game 2-1 but O’Shea admitted that the trip to Nigeria had affected both sides, and not in the usual way.
“It will be interesting to see if they have a team,” he said before admitting. “Apparently half their players were on the toilet for a week.”
United striker Wayne Rooney also picked up a virus whilst in Nigeria and O’Shea admitted that it wasn’t just the striker who had been affected. He said: “When we came back we still had to take malaria tablets for five or six days. I hope they all did.”
Manchester United face Portsmouth on Sunday in the Community Shield before beginning the defence of the Premier League crown against Newcastle United the following Sunday at Old Trafford.
