Wishful thinking on the part of Manchester United fans (and speculation from the media) apart, there was always very little chance of Larsson staying beyond his March 12th deadline.

And now that he has all but confirmed his return to Helsingborgs, Manchester United know that Larsson will be doing only that which he was asked to do - help improve the young-uns, and get Manchester United safely to the quarter finals of two competitions and to Anfield in March without losing their lead on Chelsea.

Larsson could still stay though - there’s always a chance of things turning around - but he is most likely to go and his departure will give a chance to Alan Smith to maybe get one or two games before the season ends (if only to put him in the shop window when the summer transfer window rolls along).

Oh, and the fact that Larsson has been starting many games simply means that he’s a better striker at 35 than Saha is at 28. For those who laud Saha’s movement off-the-ball, please understand that:

a lot of hustle-and-bustle doesn’t make for a good player
we’ve already got passers in the squad, we need finishers

Ole and Larsson are the only ‘true’ finishers in the lineup, and Ole’s injuries have meant that he’s sometimes a liability on the pitch if someone else doesn’t do the muscle work for him.

Larsson will be missed, but his absence will also signal the need to sign a replacement for Ruud - something we haven’t done so far.