Don’t see Rooney and Saha/Rossi as a strong enough front pairing for the whole season if we’re serious about Champs league and it seems like the writing is on the wall for Alan Smith – doesn’t score enough, don’t need his energy in midfield as a backup anymore and probably need the money to fund a new striker to partner Rooney in the first team.

The big question is ‘Who?’ Tevez seems a great player but has played half of a good season in England, is too similar to Rooney and is too short for us (considering the price). Torres is possible but other clubs needing a young, classy striker may well be able to outbid us right now (having spent £40m already). Gudjohnsen? He is a class player, no doubt, would add good experience to a young forward line and has strong credentials in both European and English football.

Wouldn’t bet against it.

Rossi is miles better already. And I’m afraid your scouting skills aren’t quite up there when evaluating Saha as lucky last season. He’s an excellent striker, and he’s more than good enough to lead the line at United when fit. Obviously fitness is his problem, and since it doesn’t appear to be improving, we should invest in someone more reliable to accompany him, Rooney and Rossi. Smith should be sold, and Ole should be kept as 5th choice.

An option could be keeping Smith and just letting Rossi come back in a support role letting day to day form decide whether he or Smith should be on the bench (or start when Saha is injured).

The question for SAF is if he wants to rely on either Smith or Rossi as second striker, if Saha is again long term injured…if he doesn’t, he should bring in someone. Another problem is that having Saha in the squad forces you to have 5 strikers, where most clubs only have 4. Having 5 strikers leaves less room for a youngster like Rossi to get time on the pitch.

If the worst happens like what happened near the end of our title winning season (losing the entire first team defense plus Saha, Giggs and Ole) we might rue the day we didn’t bring in cover. And when all the other departments have been stocked up, all that is left is the striking department. If we don’t bring in a striker, we might rue the day we dint bring in a striker. There is always a chance both Saha and Ole getting injured at the same time AGAIN, and with Smith amd co, we might lose out in the CL to Milan or other sides again.

That is why, for the sake of the CL, Fergie will be dipping into the market again. It’s not like we need an expensive striker, but he is always looking for the quality, and hence the link with all the big name strikers. If we could get another Larsson, by all means I’ll be happy.