Today the official unveiling of new Manchester United duo Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell took place at Old Trafford. Fergie confirmed that both players would feature on the pre-season tour at some point, he also confirmed what positions and roles the pair will be utilised in.
When asked about the possibility of more players coming in, SAF replied “We could possibly bring one or two more in. “He continued “When there’s a major international tournament on, there’s a delay in the transfer market. But now the European Championships are over, we’re trying to bring someone in.”
“We’ve always done well in terms of getting players at the end of season, instead of waiting all summer. In Kagawa’s case, there was a fair bit of negotiating and that kept going for weeks. As for Powell, we knew Dario Gradi [Crewe Alexandra director of football] would help us do the deal quickly.”
You’d expect that one more signing to be cover at left-back for Patrice Evra, especially as Fabio has gone on loan to QPR and Zeki Fryers seemingly on his way to Spurs.
Sir Alex then discussed the position that he expects Nick Powell to play as “I asked Dario if Nick could be a central midfielder. Dario thinks that’s his position and Nick does too so we’re all in accord. We hope he’ll be a central midfield player and that’s where we’ll develop him.”
He then went on to confirm what position we expected Japan international, Shinji Kagawa, to play in “He’ll play further forward [than Powell]. We shouldn’t be looking at one player changing the way we play but he could make a difference. He can give us that extra in the final third of the field. If his goalscoring record continues he could be a very good player for us.”
Fergie then went on to confirm that both players will feature in DHL‘s pre-season tour, but it may take Nick Powell some time to feature in the first team when the new season begins next month.
“Shinji’s coming to South Africa with us and then to China so I think you’ll be seeing him pretty soon,”
“Once he’s adapted and gets to know some football phrases our players will use, he’ll be used to that. He can start the first league game quite easily. I’ve got no problem with that.”
“I think in Nick’s case, he’s got a bit of physical development to do, just as we would expect of an 18 year-old. But he’ll be in the first-team squad and train with us every day.”
“Football throws up opportunities for young players and we play young players all the time,”
It’s good news that Nick will feature with first-team training, however if last years injury scenario is anything to go by, he could well find himself in our starting XI.
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