Sir Alex Ferguson last night suggested that Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, two of the club's longest-serving players, might still be pulling on the Manchester United shirt in 2010. Giggs will be 34 in November and Scholes, who is continuing his rehabilitation after minor knee surgery, will turn 33 in the same month but Ferguson, pointing to their fitness and the manner in which they "look after themselves", has no plans to call time on their United careers.
"At the highest level, if you don't respect your opponents, you won't get a touch. Every dribble asks for a lot of concentration, it's very demanding, against anyone."
"Don't jump to the conclusion that I am trying to hurry our older players out of the team," the United manager wrote in his programme notes. "You have to acknowledge that Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are both now on the wrong side of 30, but in my view they both have another three years in them."