Sir Alex Ferguson Tips Hernandez, Rooney and David De Gea to Shine

Sir Alex Ferguson believes that his strikers Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney are capable of bettering their last season’s performance, a season that saw United lift the Premier League trophy for the record 19th time. The gaffer is also confident that his new goalkeeper will not let him down.

Why so serious? Sir Alex backs the duo to shine

Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, who was signed from Mexican club Guadalajara for a petty 7M, proved to be the buy of the season as the striker banged 20 goals in his debut season. Hernandez was initially signed as a backup to Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Dimitar Berbatov. But with Rooney losing his head over contract negotiations and Michael Owen remaining injured for most of the season, Hernandez got a lot more first team opportunities than the player himself expected. Hernandez made the most of the opportunities and was picked up in the starting lineup against Barcelona for the Champions League final. Sir Alex said:

“It was tough for him last season but over time, Javier will mature and get better. He is improving technically and now he has had a good season behind him in a tough division. We are setting targets for him. We thought he would get 20 last season and he did. He might do even better this time.”

Wayne Rooney, on the other hand, was phenomenal after recovering from a tough phase in life, where his private life became a subject of mocking and his personal problems overtook football in his priority list. But now, with the past behind him, Ferguson admits he is looking for Rooney to emerge as one of United’s new leaders.

“We have lost three players with great experience in Neville, Scholes and Van der Sar, so that is where the expectation may bother us this season. Losing three at once is hard. Maybe there’s a bit of evolution going on.

“I can see Wayne accepting that role, definitely. He doesn’t worry about that [responsibility] too much and he has great energy. He has been doing really well in training here in America. He’ll want to get last season out of the way, but he is one of our more experienced players now. “

De Gea failed to keep a clean sheet on his United debut

The gaffer also spoke in length about United’s latest acquisition, the lanky David De Gea. The manager expects that the goalie’s inexperience, slender frame and language difficulties will not hinder his growth at the club.

“The only problem at the moment is that he doesn’t speak English. But he is working on certain calls and shouts with the defenders.

“At the moment he hasn’t got a great physique. He’s tall and wiry, but we will work on that. He will definitely play in the Community Shield and that will be a test but in the long term he’ll be fine.

“I’m not worried about his age. I looked at Petr Cech at Rennes. He was 19 and we dismissed him because of that and he went to Chelsea for £3 million. We made a mistake there.”