With February drawing to an end, Wayne Rooney has now scored 23 goals in 27 games.

Of course, Wayne Rooney scored 12 goals himself in the league last season, so it’s not a case of us matching all our goals with last season, but with 11 games still left to play, you wouldn’t bet against Rooney coming close to achieving it. Why? Because in his last 11 games he has scored 11 goals in the league, not counting the goal against City in the League Cup semi final, as well as the two goals he scored against AC Milan at the San Siro.

Rooney has played in 2301 minutes this season so far, which works out at a goal per every 100 minutes.

Last season, Cristiano Ronaldo played in 2746 minutes of football, which works out at a goal per every 153 minutes. In his first 2301 minutes of the season, Ronaldo had scored 11 goals.

Last season, Tevez played 1856 minutes of football, which worked out at a goal per every 371 minutes.

At this point last season we had scored 48 goals. This seson we have scored 66 goals, more than any other team.

However, after 28 games last season we had picked up 66 points, compared to the 60 we currently have.

Unlike recent seasons when our defence have played a massive part in securing the title, injuries at the back have meant our defensive record is nowhere near as strong. The difference in the number of games our first choice defence have played this seaon compared to last is shocking, and when you compare our defensive injuries with those of our rivals, it really is no surprise we’re lagging behind. The fact that there is only a six point difference between this season and last is testament to what an excellent job our attack our doing. (Check out comprehensive statistics on our defence this season.)

All in all, we could be in a much better position than we are, but given our circumstances, we’re looking pretty good. There’s still 30 points on offer and 3 of those will be decided when Chelsea come to Old Trafford, with them yet to make a trip to the home of the champions. It’s starting to get tasty now!

“Ronaldo was sold simply because the boy wanted to leave,” said Ferguson. “I did well to keep him another year. When we sat down, you could see it in his eyes. He said: ‘Boss, I just want to play for Real Madrid, it’s nothing against Manchester United. I’m going to go because it will be an experience for me.’ The only reason he was sold was because the boy fervently wanted to leave. He played that extra season, did fantastically for us, and after the Cup final [against Barcelona] came to me and said: ‘Boss, I want to leave.’ I said: ‘Right, you’ve done another year, let me consider it.’ The next day an offer came in for £80m.”

Since leaving, Cristiano Ronaldo has had nothing but positive things to say about the club. Earlier this week he revealed that he may return to United after his contract with Real Madrid is up. Our manager revealed today that he is still in regular contact with our former star.

“I got a text from him last week saying: ‘I miss you so much’,” said Ferguson. “I’d texted him to say happy birthday. He was 24. And he said he missed me, and ‘thanks for all the kind things you’re saying about me’. You ­appreciate things like that. He had six years with me. We have to be grateful because he was a fantastic lad. Great lad. Popular in the dressing room, popular with the staff, and he made a great contribution to Manchester United. If he was going to leave, we made sure we got the best deal we could. We thought the structure of the club was good, with young players about the place, and players likely to improve. It’s like everything else: when a great player comes along, and then a great player leaves, there has to be a loss to a degree that you don’t realise until that loss is on your toes. And it was a loss, a major loss, but we have compensated in some ways. We’ve actually scored more goals this season than we did last year.”

These quotes come from an exclusive interview with Sir Alex Ferguson to mark the relaunch of The Observer.

“Ronaldo is the best player in the world, but I am biased,” said Ferguson. “When you lose a great player he is a loss and you have to recover from that and look at your team differently – you have to get on with it, you can’t sit around and complain about not having him, and you have to move on and I think we have but he was a marvellous player.”

Ferguson is obviously a massive fan of Wayne Rooney though and claims that he is one of the best players in the world.

“Manchester United builds up heroes very quickly,” he continued. “We are peculiar because the players, like Beckham, who come through the ranks are always viewed as better than those you buy. But Rooney is also regarded as that kind of player. Although he came from Everton, the fans will always look at him as one of the players who has grown up with us. He has been fantastic this season and, without doubt, his form this season has brought him to the high point of his career. World-class is a misused term, but with Rooney, you have to say he is getting to the point where he is now one of the best players in the world.”

We made our peace when a fee had been agreed and to his credit, he has had nothing but great things to say about our club in the press since leaving.

Today, Ronaldo has again claimed that only God knows his future… but implies that returning to United is a possibility when his contract at Real Madrid expires.

“Of course I miss playing for Manchester United,” Ronaldo said. “I played there for six years and that’s a long time. I am still interested in watching Manchester United and, you never know, maybe in the future I could return to play there. It’s always possible. I want to fulfil my contract here but, in the future, only God knows. I will not say I am not happy here at Real Madrid. I am really happy and everyone knows this is my club but, of course, I miss Manchester United, the boss, the players, because I left family there.”

However, it is interesting to see how Valencia is getting on at filling Ronaldo’s boots, a task the media said would be impossible. Given that he had a scoring record of just 7 goals in 89 games at Wigan, it seemed beyond comprehension that he would be able to leave any mark on what Ronaldo had achieved with the club (just as it was unimaginable that United could challenge for the title without CR9).

In Cristiano Ronaldo’s first 26 games last season, he scored 10 goals.
Goals in the league:
2 against Stoke – 12th
2 against Hull – 17th
2 against West Ham – 9th
1 against West Brom – 20th
1 against Bolton – 13th (penalty)
Average position: 14th

Assists in the league: 2

Goals in the League Cup:
1 against Boro – 19th
1 against Derby – 18th in the Championship

In Antonio Valencia’s first 26 games, he’s scored 7 goals.
Goals in the league:
1 against Bolton – 18th
1 against Everton – 11th
1 against West Ham – 17th
1 against Wolves – 16th
1 against Wigan – 15th
Average position: 15th

Assists in the league: 5

Goals in the Champions League:
2 against CSKA Moscow

When you consider that Ronaldo had much more freedom in where he played, straying centrally for much of the season, Valencia hasn’t done too badly at all. You have to remember that this is his first season at the club after making a big step up from Wigan, and that he strictly plays on the right.

There are areas of his game that he can improve but he’s younger than Ronaldo and joined the Premier League three years later. So far, so good.

To get some perspective… Frank Lampard has scored 1 more league goal than Valencia this season, but 5 of his 6 goals have been penalties. Steven Gerrard has scored as many leage goals as Valencia this season, but 2 of his 5 have been penalties. Benayoun, Anelka and Kevin Doyle have scored as many goals as Valencia. Milner, Ashley Young, Lennon, Wright-Phillips, Duff, Deco, Steven Ireland and Ballack have all scored 2 goals or more less than Valencia.

Pretty good for a player that was written off at the start of the season.

“Most of the media looked at us losing Ronaldo and viewed it as being crucial and that we wouldn’t be nearly as good but there is only one point difference from last season,” Ferguson said before our 5-0 win over Wigan. “Cristiano was an unbelievable player. It was inevitable at some point he was going to leave. We have adjusted to it. Antonio has done well and his development has been good. The good thing about him is that he is as tough as boots and has great stamina and speed. He’s a quiet and shy boy and I don’t think with his personality he would be interested in trying to outmatch Cristiano. He has been unaffected by the position he is playing in. He enjoys that position. He can play other positions but we have not tested that yet. I know he can play centre midfield because I watched him play there and we know he can play through the middle and I have also seen that. But we think he is important to us the way we play. We like to have width in the team and he is doing that very well.”

“We know that we have the duty to put on a show but sometimes it’s not possible,” said Ronaldo. “We always try but at times the team are not playing well and the fans could give us more support. The Manchester United fans, for example, were very intimidating for Liverpool or Manchester City in those matches. I think that if our supporters tried to do that it would be much better for everyone and would give the players a big boost.”

The coaches and captains of international teams are given the opportunity for this prestigious award, with the first round of voting taking place in October.

Dimitar Berbatov, Park Ji-Sung and Darren Fletcher are their countries’ captain, so who did they vote for?

Dimitar Berbatov
1st – Messi
2nd – Ronaldo
3rd – Torres

Park Ji-Sung
1st – Messi
2nd – Ronaldo
3rd – Xavi

Darren Fletcher
1st – Ronaldo
2nd – Messi
3rd – Torres

I wonder if Park wins any prizes for getting it right?

It comes as no surprise that Terry, with all the morals of his drug dealing father and shop lifting mother, who himself has been exposed this week as taking thousands of quid to give behind the scenes tours of Chelsea’s training ground behind the club’s back, couldn’t bring himself to be quite as honest with his votes.

He voted Didier Drogba, the 53rd highest scorer in the Premiership last season, as the best player in the world, and Michael Ballack as the second best player in the world.

Instructions on the voting form circulated by world football’s governing body reminded those taking part to ‘take into account not only the players’ on-field performance but also their overall behaviour on and off the pitch’.

For most, Drogba’s awful outburst following their elimination from the European Cup would have constituted as ‘bad behaviour’, but not for the England captain, who was “fully behind” Drogba’s reaction. Oh dear.

Regardless, a big congratulations to Messi, who really was the best player in the world last season. Anyone care to explain to me what Kaka did last season to be voted the fourth best player in the world though…?

Argentina’s coach, Diego Maradona, voted Wayne Rooney as the second best player in the world, France’s coach, Raymond Domenech, voted him in third, as did Ireland’s coach, Marco Tardelli and Thailand’s coach… Bryan Robson!

BEST SIGNINGS
Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Date: April 23rd 2001
Transfer fee: £19 million
Random quote: “In spite of what has happened in the past year, my feelings for the club have never diminished. It has always been a dream of mine to play for United at Old Trafford. So this move has been a very easy choice for me to make and I look forward to playing for the club next season.”
Appearances: 219
Trophies: 1 Premiership title, 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup.
Individual achievements: Sir Matt Busby player of the Year (2002 and 2003), PFA Player of the Year (2002), Premiership golden boot (2003).
Highlights: Scoring in the 2004 FA Cup final, beating Denis Law’s record for number of European goals in a United shirt (a record he still holds), scoring the penalty which helped end Arsenal’s unbeaten run a year after missing one against Arsenal, the two late goals he scored against Aston Villa in the cup which saw United go from 2-0 with 35 minutes to play to winning 3-2, left the club after scoring an incredible 150 goals in 219 games.
Video: Tribute to Ruud

Rio Ferdinand
Date: July 22nd 2002
Transfer fee: £29.1 million
Random quote: “I wear my red shirt with as much pride as anyone else. Hopefully, the fans can see that I’m committed and that my heart is at the club. I love playing for United.”
Appearances: 318
Trophies: 4 Premiership titles, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: PFA Team of the Year (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009).
Highlights: Scoring an injury time winner against Liverpool and captaining the club to victory in the 2008 European Cup final.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Date: August 12th 2003
Transfer fee: £12.24 million
Random quote: “I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world, and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United.”
Appearances: 292
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: Ballon d’Or (2008), FIFA World Player of the Year (2008), PFA Player of the Year (2007, 2008), Premiership golden boot (2008), PFA Team of the Year (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
Highlights: Scoring our only goal in the 2008 European Cup final, scoring in in the 2004 FA Cup final, scoring in the 2006 League Cup final, scoring two goals against Arsenal in the 2009 European Cup semi-final at the Emirates, scoring 42 goals in 49 games in 07-08.

Wayne Rooney
Date: August 31st 2004
Transfer fee: £27 million
Random quote: “I hope I’m still at United when I’m the same age as guys like Ryan, Scholesy and Gary Neville. I’ve always said that as long as United want me, I’m happy to stay. I don’t want to leave. I love the club and have no reason to even think about moving.”
Appearances: 256
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 1 League Cup, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: Sir Matt Busby player of the year (2006), PFA Young Player of the Year (2005, 2006), PFA Fans Player of the Year (2006), PFA Team of the Year (2006).
Highlights: Scoring a hattrick in the Champions League on his début, scoring in the 2006 League Cup final, scoring an injury time winner against AC Milan in the 2007 European Cup semi-final.

Nemanja Vidic
Date: January 5th 2006
Transfer fee: £7 million
Random quote: “To play for United and win trophies is a big thing and I am proud to be part of this team.”
Appearances: 167
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year (2009), PFA Team of the Year (2007, 2008, 2009).
Highlights: Part of the defence that earned a British Football League-record run of 14 consecutive clean sheets, scored United’s only goal in the 2008 European Super Cup final, scored an injury time winner against Sunderland last season.

Patrice Evra
Date: January 10th 2006
Transfer fee: £5.5 million
Randon quote: “The older players need to show the younger ones how much of a privilege it is to play for United. Two years ago I started to read a book of the story of Man United and I saw a DVD of the crash at Munich and it made me realise I need to have respect for that shirt because it is a big story and Manchester United is a big family. I don’t just want to say this to look nice in the papers, because it is true – we are a big family here and we have a big story and this is why Manchester United is a club apart. It is always hard to put on that shirt because every day when you do you are putting that story on your back.”
Appearances: 167
Trophies: 3 Premiership titles, 2 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
Individual achievements: PFA Team of the Season (2007, 2009).
Highlights: Scoring in United’s 7-1 thrashing of Roma in the European Cup quarter-final.

WORST SIGNINGS
Roy Carroll
Date: July 27th 2001
Transfer fee: £2.5 million
Random quote: “The whole deal has not sunk in yet. I will be working with Fabien Barthez and facing shots from David Beckham in training – it’s incredible.”
Appearances: 72
Trophies: 1 Premiership title, 1 FA Cup.

Eric Djemba-Djemba
Date: July 3rd 2003
Transfer fee: £3.5 million
Random quote: “This is a very proud moment for me. Ever since I was a teenager it has been my dream to play for Manchester United. If the club is signing me it is because they really believe in me.”
Appearances: 39
Trophies: 1 FA Cup

David Bellion
Date: August 1st 2003
Transfer fee: £2 million
Random quote: “I am really excited to be joining Manchester United. When you are young they are one of the clubs you dream of playing for.”
Appearances: 40
Trophies: 0

.

Kléberson
Date: August 12th 2003
Transfer fee: £6.5 million
Random quote: “To be the first Brazilian to sign for United is special. This is the biggest opportunity of my life. I had offers from other clubs but they weren’t Manchester United. What I promise the fans is to give my all on the pitch from the outset.”
Appearances: 30
Trophies: 1 FA Cup

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Dong Fangzhuo
Date: January 13th 2004
Transfer fee: £500,000
Random quote: “It is a rare opportunity for any player to play for United, so I am very proud of my time there. The time I spent in Europe was priceless and it was an honour to be able to train with some of the best players in the world.”
Appearances: 3
Trophies: 0

“I think Manchester United are doing very well this season – they have lost the last two games but they are still second in the league,” said Ronaldo ahead of the FIFA World Player of the Year awards in Zurich. “What people think about me is their opinion but I really miss Manchester a little bit as I played there for six years and I left a few friends there. So I miss the club a little bit but I’m focused now at Real Madrid and I’m really, really happy there.”

Video footage of question and answer.

With our hatred for Real Madrid growing steadily over the past few years, could we be in for meeting them in the first knock-out stages of the Champions League?

Cristiano Ronaldo hopes not!

“I don’t want to play against Manchester,” he said. “It will be a strange feeling if I play them. Mr Ferguson helped me a lot in my career. I was there six years and he taught me many things. I keep the same relationship with him. He’s a good friend of mine. I still have the same friends. I speak sometimes with Rooney, Vidic, Ferdinand, Nani, Evra, Anderson.”