The shock arrival of Henrik Larsson will mark the end of Manchester United's
extensive striker search until next summer.
With his attacking options currently depleted, Sir Alex Ferguson has pulled
off a major coup in securing Larsson on a three-month loan from Helsingborg.
The 35-year-old Celtic legend will fly into England at the beginning of
January and remain with the Old Trafford outfit until March 12 before returning
to his native Sweden for the start of their domestic campaign.
Larsson will provide valuable back-up to first-choice strikers Louis Saha and
Wayne Rooney at a time when United hope to be mounting a serious challenge for
honours both at home and abroad.
And, while Ferguson continues to be linked with big-money moves for Fernando
Torres and Darren Bent, the Scot is convinced now Larsson's arrival is certain,
he will not need to look for any more forwards when the transfer window opens
next month.
'No, we won't be going for any other strikers,' confirmed the United boss.
'We have exhausted all avenues and this, without doubt, is the best
option.'
The imminent return of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from a hamstring strain should see
United through to the new year, when Giuseppe Rossi seems certain to be recalled
from his loan spell at Newcastle, offering Ferguson even more alternatives for
the start of the Red Devils' FA Cup campaign.
However, the arrival of Larsson has certainly captured the imagination of the
United faithful.
Recently voted the best Swedish player of the past 50 years, Larsson scored an
incredible 242 goals in 315 appearances during seven highly-successful years at
Parkhead before leaving for Barcelona, where he won the Champions League in
May.
Ferguson credits Larsson's arrival off the bench when his team were losing to
Arsenal as the major factor behind the Catalans' eventual triumph and admitted
he tried to sign the player while he was still in Scotland.
'We made a move for him while he was still at Celtic but they managed to
persuade him to stay,' revealed Ferguson.
'I always knew he wanted to try Barcelona but we didn't go for him when he
was leaving there in the summer because we were under the impression he wanted
to go back to Sweden, which he did.'
However, with it becoming increasingly obvious United could not hope to
maintain a successful title quest with the strikers currently available,
Ferguson told chief scout Jim Lawlor to pursue a hunch over Larsson with
Helsingborg coach, and fellow Scot, Stuart Baxter.
Although Larsson has extensive business interests in his homeland, he was
willing to take up the challenge of appearing in the Premiership for the first
time in his career.
His first United appearance is likely to be in an FA Cup third-round tie, with
a possible Premiership debut against Aston Villa, whose manager Martin O'Neill
used to be his boss at Celtic, a week later.
Unless his loan period is extended, something Ferguson doubts will happen,
Larsson will be available for a maximum of 13 games, including the first
Champions League knock-out round and testing trips to Arsenal and Liverpool.
'The length of the contract is perfect,' said Larsson.
I probably won't play every match from the start, but for me it feels like a
very fun thing to contribute at such a late stage in my career.
'I have no idea how Sir Alex wants to use me. I will be back-up at the
beginning, then we will see what I can contribute and where things are going.'
Larsson will link up with his new team-mates ahead of the trip to West Ham on
December 17, then train at Carrington for a week before heading back to Sweden
for Christmas, then returning to England a week later.
However, Ferguson has been keen to stress Larsson's arrival does not mark the
end of Alan Smith's stay at Old Trafford, even though the £6million former Leeds
front-man has not even been seen on the bench since being substituted in the
Carling Cup defeat to Southend.
'Alan's future with the club is good,' declared Ferguson.
'The problem was we misread the situation when he came back from his injury.
'He did very well in pre-season but after that, there was no progress and we
didn't really realise it until we saw him play against Crewe and Southend.
'Now we have got him on a quite intensive speed programme and he is working
very hard at that. He knows there is a lot of hard work to do but he is
progressing well.'
