Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he is already planning for next season.
A 3-0 win against Aston Villa last Monday secured title number 20 for Manchester United, although a draw at Arsenal six days later has denied them the chance to beat Chelsea’s record haul of 95 points in a Premier League season. The latter, though, will be of little concern for the Reds, who were desperate to wrestle the league back from rivals City.
Ferguson has now built a squad with the fine mixture of youth and experience, with the likes of David De Gea, Rafael da Silva, Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck complemented by the older heads of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand. But the Reds boss still believes there is room for improvement, and he has already started his planning for the summer window.
“Hopefully the players we bring into the club in the next year or so will be of the quality we need,” the Scottish boss said in his column for Inside United. “We’ve been doing a bit of work on that over the last three or four months, targeting who the players are that we feel could enhance us, make us better or help us maintain the level we’re at.”
Despite Michael Carrick enjoying perhaps the best season of his career, there is a general consensus that United remain somewhat light in midfield. Everton’s Marouane Fellaini, who has played in a more advanced role this season, has long been linked with a move to Old Trafford, and he is believed to have a buyout clause of an affordable £22million.
Further up the field, Radamel Falcao was earlier this month linked with a move to the champions. The Colombian international is regarded as one of the most prolific goalscorers in Europe, and it would take around £40million to prise him from Atletico Madrid. Borussia Dortmund’s Polish ace Robert Lewandowski, who scored four times against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League last week, has also been widely mooted as a target.
