This morning at Carrington Traing Complex, Sir Alex Ferguson met with the worlds media for his weekly press conference ahead of the weekends Barclay’s Premier League fixture, in which this week is Southampton away.
As the transfer window comes to a close today the media were interested in hearing what the reds boss had to say on any final in-comings or outgoings for the club.
As ever manutd.com and Nick Coppack were on hand, below are quotes from the press conference:
Sir Alex on Dimitar Berbatov:
“He’s not gone yet. I don’t know anything about it. We’ve not had any contact with him. We thought he was in Italy, going to Fiorentina. But it turns out he’s not gone there. He could be anywhere, to be honest with you. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s at Tottenham. I don’t think he’s certain to go to Fulham, put it that way.”
Sir Alex on Darren Fletcher:
“He’s training well, every day. I think he’s going up to Scotland again next week to work with them [the national squad]. He played the other night for the Under-21s and played really well. With the condition he has, though, it’s a case of wait and see. If he keeps doing as well as he’s doing then obviously he’ll be under consideration because he’s a fantastic player. Darren could come into the 25-man Champions League squad quite easily, without me having to leave others out because we have a number of players who qualify as youth products in addition to the 25.”
Sir Alex on leaving Wayne Rooney out of the Fulham game:
“Wayne’s a bit behind other players. It wasn’t an easy choice because I had to leave out a very good player and a player who can score you goals. That’s not an easy decision, but it was done.”
Other quotes from the press conference ahead of Southampton:
“In terms of injuries, it’s best to let everyone know Ashley Young is injured. He’s out after the injury last week. It’s not serious.”
“Centre-back is our main concern at the moment. Jonny Evans played [for the Under-21s] on Wednesday and came through fine. He’s the strongest option we’ve got. Phil Jones has done some training but isn’t ready yet. Rio’s in the same boat. At least we have one more centre-back available, which is an improvement. It allows us to put Carrick back in midfield.”
“Wayne’s out for four weeks. It’s nothing serious on the actual gash – it’s a bad one but it was treated carefully very quickly. We don’t expect any complications from it. I think he’ll be back in four weeks. The fact it’s a gash and not a muscle or joint injury means he can do a lot of work in the gymnasium.”
“Southampton lost their first two games which wasn’t the best start for them. But Nigel Adkins has done a great job there. It’s a good set-up – a good training ground, a good stadium and they have a bit of money behind them. They have every chance of staying in the league.”
“For an hour last week [against Fulham] we were absolutely superb. Then we got careless and lost a bad goal. There was a lot of promise there, though”
Video of Press Conference:
