'Times have changed since David Beckham et al came through and now the United manager is just as likely to shop abroad for his fledgelings, the most recent being John Obi Mikel, the FC Lyn Oslo midfield player, and Nigel de Jong.
United’s interest in De Jong, 20, stems from him being one of the most versatile players in Europe. The Holland player can play in defence, but his preferred position is on the right of midfield — a preference that led to him falling out this season with Ronald Koeman, the coach at the time, who played him in a variety of positions. De Jong has one year left on his contract, but Ajax are keen to ensure that he signs a new deal. "We won’t let him go. We will not quote a fee, we want to keep him, it is as simple as that," Arie van Eijden, an Ajax director, said yesterday.
De Jong has courted a move to the Premiership. "It’s my dream to play in England and the second club that I fancy behind Ajax is Arsenal," De Jong said.
Should De Jong arrive at Old Trafford, he would join other prodigious young talents that Ferguson has begun to assemble. Cristiano Ronaldo is only 20 and Wayne Rooney 19, but there have been other notable arrivals, such as Gerard Pique, the defender, from Barcelona, and Giuseppe Rossi, the goalkeeper, from Parma.
Many would be daunted by the task of rebuilding the team, but Ferguson has admitted that one of the main attractions of the job now is the prospect of developing another generation of players, as he did with Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers. They stepped on to the pitch with an ingrained team spirit and a love of the club that was cultivated from progressing through the youth ranks.
But even Ferguson may have concluded that time has caught up with that era. Butt has left the club and Giggs is 31; Scholes and Gary Neville are 30 and Roy Keane, the captain, will be 34 in the summer. Had Ferguson retired two years ago, when he intended to, the job of replacing these players would have fallen to someone else. "We’re building a great new team," Ferguson said. "We have some of the best talent in the world and some young players, who will be sure bets in this business in the future, so why would I want to retire?"