Sir Alex Ferguson is still looking for the next Cristiano Ronaldo.
No, Lucas Moura is not Cristiano; nor is Bebe. Cristiano wasn't the new George Best. But he was good enough.
When you are one of the greatest football managers the game has ever known, you have a right to covet the best players in the game.
When you have lived as long as Sir Alex—and have seen the talent he has seen, and managed some of it—then you are entitled to lust after the next great player.
Ronaldo was a game-changer. He was better than Besty in so many ways, but one thing they had in common was their selfishness. When they had the ball, they just wanted to run and score.
This is the one criticism that has been levelled at "Lucas" (as we shall call Lucas Moura, because everyone knows he's not Lucas Leiva).
He has many great qualities, but he can be selfish in the way that great players are, and that is sometimes resented by teammates.
Neymar has the same characteristic, and so did the previous great Ronaldo in his early years. Ronaldinho had it so badly that he wanted to show off all his tricks as well.
And that's when you ask yourself whether football takes itself too seriously?
Of course it's about money, because there is so much money at stake. West Ham and Southampton could get over £60 million in TV money this season.
That money can buy success (even if relative), and it can certainly buy survival. Which is why the Scottish teams that voted Rangers out of the SPL may be taking a long hard look at themselves at the end of the season—and at how many of them did not survive.
But George Best was a player that you would pay money to go and see. He could make the Old Trafford gasp with one touch, one feint, one dribble.
Cristiano Ronaldo had such qualities even as an 18-year-old when United played against Sporting Lisbon in the preseason of 2003.
At that time, he had played just 25 times for Sporting, but he had not played for his country. Lucas Moura has played 59 times for Sao Paolo at 19 and 15 times for Brazil.
No, Lucas Moura is not Cristiano; nor is Bebe. Cristiano wasn't the new George Best. But he was good enough.
When you are one of the greatest football managers the game has ever known, you have a right to covet the best players in the game.
When you have lived as long as Sir Alex—and have seen the talent he has seen, and managed some of it—then you are entitled to lust after the next great player.
Ronaldo was a game-changer. He was better than Besty in so many ways, but one thing they had in common was their selfishness. When they had the ball, they just wanted to run and score.
This is the one criticism that has been levelled at "Lucas" (as we shall call Lucas Moura, because everyone knows he's not Lucas Leiva).
He has many great qualities, but he can be selfish in the way that great players are, and that is sometimes resented by teammates.
Neymar has the same characteristic, and so did the previous great Ronaldo in his early years. Ronaldinho had it so badly that he wanted to show off all his tricks as well.
And that's when you ask yourself whether football takes itself too seriously?
Of course it's about money, because there is so much money at stake. West Ham and Southampton could get over £60 million in TV money this season.
That money can buy success (even if relative), and it can certainly buy survival. Which is why the Scottish teams that voted Rangers out of the SPL may be taking a long hard look at themselves at the end of the season—and at how many of them did not survive.
But George Best was a player that you would pay money to go and see. He could make the Old Trafford gasp with one touch, one feint, one dribble.
Cristiano Ronaldo had such qualities even as an 18-year-old when United played against Sporting Lisbon in the preseason of 2003.
At that time, he had played just 25 times for Sporting, but he had not played for his country. Lucas Moura has played 59 times for Sao Paolo at 19 and 15 times for Brazil.
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