http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...-alex-ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that he plans to use Michael Owen as little as every 10 days as he confirmed he was looking to employ the striker as an impact player at Manchester United.
Owen has begun his United career as well as he could have expected, scoring twice in two games during the champions' tour of Asia, the second coming in today's 2–0 win here over a Malaysia XI. But Ferguson indicated he saw him as support to the existing strike pairing of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. "We can carry Michael Owen. I won't ask him to play every four days, I might ask him to play every 10 days," the manager said. "We can do it because I always rotate my squad."
Ferguson hopes Owen might have the same influence as Henrik Larsson did in the early months of 2007, when he was brought on loan from Helsingborg. The Swede was not a regular starter but was pivotal in United's wresting back of the title after four barren years.
"They are similar players in terms of movement in the last third," said Ferguson. "Larsson was always on the move. That is a great asset to have and they don't try anything different. Larsson never did and nor does Owen. The ball comes into the penalty box and he is always there.
"It's worth the risk. Sometimes you have a punt, a bet or a gamble but there is a little bit more to him than that, having spoken to one or two players about Owen. I first tried to sign him when he was 12, so we have been waiting for this."
Like most at Old Trafford, Ferguson accepted that sooner or later Cristiano Ronaldo, whose shirt Owen now wears, would go to Real Madrid but he holds out the wistful prospect that the winger might end his career at United. The man who eight months ago said he would "not sell that mob [Madrid] a virus", spoke with almost paternal pride of what Ronaldo might achieve when reflecting on the £80m move to the Bernabéu.
"His best is yet to come because he is just 24," Ferguson said. "I will be very proud when I see [him at his best] because we had a part to play in it. He came to the right club at the right part of his career. He could have gone to Real Madrid or Barcelona as a boy but he came to the right club and he appreciates that. And he may come back, you never know.
"I don't see it happening if things go wrong at Real Madrid necessarily, but he loved Manchester United so it may happen. He loved the club. If you look at the six years he had with us, he never missed training and he was never injured. He always played. He was fantastic.
"It wasn't easy to see him leave. I had a good chat with the boy about it but he had made up his mind. Last year he was begging me to let him go but this year it was a sensible discussion.
"There is no doubt it is a huge loss. It is a challenge for us because it won't be the same without Ronaldo. He is the best player in this world of ours – by absolutely miles. He is streets ahead of Lionel Messi, streets ahead of Kaka. Look at his figures. They are unbelievable. The attempts he has had on goal, the attacks in the penalty box, his positions, his headers, his shots."
None of which will now benefit Manchester United. Ferguson has spent a quarter of the fee he received for Ronaldo and was prepared to spend almost half of it on Karim Benzema, but the weight of Madrid's money told, with the France striker also moving to the Bernabéu.
"We tried for Benzema because, at 21, I felt there would be an improvement there," said Ferguson. "He is tough, with a good physique and goalscoring record, so it was worth going a wee bit extra for him because of his age. But when it went to 42m euros, it was beyond his value. We went to 35m and I think that was fair.
"We explored signing Franck Ribery in a nice, quiet way when [the chief executive] David Gill was at one of his meetings with Bayern Munich in March. They told him: 'Absolutely no chance' and the one thing you can say about Bayern is that when they say something they mean it."
Seen on the news that he's not getting along well with Galaxy fans.
. When Dags does his 
smilies and tries to make out we're just being dicks and Kev says it's no wonder people think United fans are cunts I start to remember why everyone thinks Liverpool fans are miserable, deluded chumps with no sense of humour. 
) HE'S A MADRID PLAYER KNOW! 
