Sir Alex Ferguson has sparked fresh speculation that he is trying to sign the Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov, confirming that Manchester United have lodged a "bid for one player who would enhance us a great deal."
The United manager refused to reveal the identity of his target, although it is believed to be Dimitar Berbatov, but confirmed a bid had been lodged which he hoped would lead to a successful conclusion.
Spurs were reported to have turned down a £20m offer for Berbatov from United last week but they may yet be receptive to a higher offer that could provide manager Juande Ramos with the funds he needs to strengthen his own squad ahead of the new season.
"I have replaced Gerard Piqué with Jonny Evans, so we are back to the same numbers," said Ferguson, who set off today with a 21-man squad for United's pre-season tour of South Africa and Nigeria. "If we got one more it would strengthen us even further."
Aside from Nani, Edwin van der Sar and Patrice Evra, who were all in action at Euro 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo, who is recovering from an ankle operation, and Anderson, who played for Brazil in World Cup qualifying action, Owen Hargreaves was the most notable absentee from the tour party, whose first match will be against the Kaizer Chiefs in Cape Town on Saturday. Ferguson confirmed Hargreaves' tendinitis, which developed during pre-season last year and eventually required injections, has resurfaced.
"It was apparent as soon as he came back to training," said Ferguson. "It is the same as last year. Some people get these things. Maybe training on the firm grounds brings it on or maybe it is just an inherent problem. We are trying to sort it out now with injections. That is what we did last November and it worked. Hopefully these work and by the time we come back from South Africa he should be OK."
Ferguson expects Hargreaves to link up with the other senior stars who remained in Manchester and could yet be involved in a reserve team outing at Oxford on July 26. Certainly the United camp remain confident Hargreaves will be fit when they begin the defence of their Premier League crown against Newcastle in five weeks.
"Owen is not written off for the start of the season at all," he said. "I am sure he will be OK."
Gary Neville will once again take up the captain's armband, with Ferguson stating the England defender is now fully fit after virtually 16 months on the sidelines and ready to challenge Wes Brown to become United's first-choice right-back.
"For Gary in particular this trip is very important," said Ferguson. "He came through his 45 minutes at Aberdeen on Saturday with no problem at all, which is fantastic news. The great thing about Gary is that he has not missed a training session since the last time he came back in April. We could have played him at the end of the season but Wes was doing so well.
"His form was so good I didn't want to have doubts in my mind about picking him. Wes had played in every game, so we kept it like that. But now, a new season is about to start and Gary will get his chance."
After their trip to Cape Town, United will move on to Durban and Pretoria before a flying visit to Nigeria. They will then return home to face Espanyol, Peterborough and Juventus in a packed five-day spell before the Community Shield clash with Portsmouth at Wembley on August 10.
