AFTER A SO-FAR FRUITLESS SEARCH

Last updated : 20 August 2006 By Ed

"Louis is a fantastic player.

"He has pace, power, has two good feet and is good in the air; everything you could look for in a striker. Last season he did not start playing until November yet still finished with 15 goals. Given a full season he will definitely score more than 20, I've no doubt about that."

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"If you could have given me someone who would guarantee us 25 goals then we'd have been interested but there is no-one.

"I would have liked to have got someone like that but there is nobody there. So there is no point in worrying about it.

"But there are options for us. Apart from the recognised two of Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha, you have Alan Smith, who will revert to the centre-forward position.

"You have the potential of young Giuseppe Rossi - my hope was to send him on loan but he is going to stay because his form has been excellent - and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's form has been terrific.

"I have other options. You can use Ryan Giggs, you can use Paul Scholes, and you can use Cristiano Ronaldo. You could use Ji-sung Park.

"I don't care where goals come from to be honest. Over the years we have had good contributions from midfield players; and way back, we got 19 goals from Steve Bruce."