Manchester United take on Boca Juniors tomorrow in the opening game of the Audi Cup in Munich. Sir Alex has today revealed that Valencia will start in that game, making his début, after missing out on the tour of Asia.
“Valencia didn’t join us in the Far East because he was behind the rest of the squad in terms of his fitness,” Ferguson said. “He’s been back at Carrington doing his endurance and speed work, catching up with everyone else.”
Nobody is expecting Valencia to fill Ronaldo’s boots in terms of goals, although it’s fair to say we imagine Valencia will improve on his scoring record at Wigan.
“We lost Ronaldo in the summer and he’s someone who gave us 26 goals last season,” he added. “It’s going to be hard to replace him and we hope we can find an answer to that. We’ve signed Valencia, who has a lot of potential – he’s young, very athletic and possesses good power. At 23 years of age I think he can develop at our club.”
