Taken as a whole, you cannot point any fingers at Alex Ferguson for the odd bad mistake he has made; and he has made a few!

Manchester United’s latest crisis (what crisis?) has been born from the fact that they do not have a first class centre forward.   Louis Saha’s fitness record speaks for itself and therefore cannot be relied upon, even when you consider whether he is top class or not.

Ferguson has been left wanting more than ever with the sale of Alan Smith to Newcastle and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s decision to retire.  Now he needs a spearhead for his exciting cavalier style football.  Someone who will allow Rooney, Nani, Giggs and Ronaldho to showboat all around the six yard area and pounce on the end of any chance like a Jack Russell on a rabbit.  Without this figurehead United look unbalanced up front.  Pretty boy football will get you nowhere unless there’s a goalscorer ready to toe poke it home.  Surely Ferguson has learnt this lesson by watching the beautiful game being played  in one side of North London for the past few years.

United need a Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres…. a Ruud Van Nistlerooy!
And now Ferguson should be wondering why he got rid of the world class striker more than ever - especially as he became an instant success with Real Madrid!

So, who does he want?  More to the point, with less than one week before the  transfer deadline, who is available? The shortlist appears to have become shorter with Dmitri Berbatov stating he is happy to stay at Tottenham Hotspur, for now.  For me, that only leaves one top striker that is tried and tested in the Premiership, who is restless for a move, and who is playing for a club who couldn’t resist the sale for the right price.

Nicolas Anelka has seen and done it several times for several clubs in several top European leagues.  United’s best chance of retaining the Premiership title is to hit the ground running with Anelka feeding off Rooney, Ronaldho, Scholes, Nani and Carrick and to start banging home more goals than they concede.

Other strikers linked with Premiership moves include Adriano, Jermaine Defoe, Michael Owen & David Nugent