RICARDO BACK TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION

Last updated : 01 August 2004 By Editor

The Spanish keeper himself:

"I always believe that I am capable of being the number one.

"I believe in myself. I have worked hard all my life to get to this position at a club like Manchester United and I am not going to drop my hands and give up. I am going to fight for my place. I won't give in.

"It has been a good year for me at Racing Santander. It has been good for experience. Playing every game in the season was good for me.

"I am a realist and when Tim Howard arrived last season and we had four goalkeepers it was difficult to just sit and watch. I needed to play and so I thought it was the best thing for me to come back to Spain and play. It is important for me to play.

"I was very happy in Santander but I then looked forward to coming back to Manchester and pre-season and to work hard and show the technical staff that I can play in this team.

"I have come back with more power and more confidence. I always wanted to come back to Manchester. I didn't go back to Spain last year to try and get a permanent move back to the Spanish League.

"I went purely to play matches. I had adapted well to life in Manchester. All my family had adapted well and it was good for my family over in England. We wanted to stay in Manchester for more years so I have to work hard to show Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz that I should stay here.

"Hopefully it will prove good for me that Carlos was over in Madrid during my time with Santander. He saw me play a few times."