Alan Smith - The New Roy Keane?

By David Hobbs
July 26 2005

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that he is trying to groom Alan Smith into Roy Keane's midfield position during the Red Devils' tour of Asia.

Ferguson is trying out new theories as he looks to find a successor to Roy Keane, who has been omitted from the traveling squad due to injury despite reports claiming Fergie and Keane had a training ground bust-up in Portugal recently.

The Scotsman has denied such rumours and is using Keane's injury as an advantage to try out new things. "We have some options [for midfield]. We've experimented with Alan in that role and he's done very well, so that's an option.

"Alan's young and obviously it's something we're possibly looking at in terms of maybe the replacement for Roy eventually.

"There's Alan Smith, Darren Fletcher, Quinton Fortune and Phil Neville, who have all played in the position in the past.

Ferguson admitted the successor will be no match to Keane, who has made the position his own during his successful time at Old Trafford. "It is pointless looking for a replacement for Roy because there is no player like that around," he added.

"We are looking within the squad to see if there is a similar type of player who can play that role."  

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David Hobbs - Webmaster
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