Ferguson: Rooney will emerge from Ronaldo's shadow

Sir Alex Ferguson's search for a new striker will continue even though Wayne Rooney will return for Manchester United when they begin their Barclays Premier League title defence against Newcastle on Sunday.

Last week, Ferguson claimed he expected to have a new face at the club within the next few days.

So far, no-one has materialised, although strong rumours are sweeping Manchester that Dimitar Berbatov will complete a move to the Red Devils from Tottenham over the weekend.

Ferguson was not prepared to expand on the gossip, although the ambiguous nature of his response merely fuelled the increasing speculation.

"I cannot give you an answer because there isn't one," he said, when asked whether he still expected to bring in a new player.

"We have been trying to add to the squad but nothing has changed, I have nothing else to say."

If, as expected, Berbatov becomes a United player over the next few days, he will gain an official seal of approval from Owen Hargreaves, who played for Bayern Munich in the striker's Bayer Leverkusen days.

"Berbatov is a fabulous player, who would be a fine addition to any team," said the England midfielder.

"The thing is, if Manchester United sign a player, it has to be a top player and that would be exciting for us all.

"Obviously, you can never have too many strikers, although I don't actually think we need to improve on too much from last season."

Even if Ferguson does complete a deal for Berbatov, the Bulgarian will not be considered for Sunday's clash with Newcastle, making the return of Rooney more important.

Much is expected of the England forward this season. Unfortunately, his summer has been hampered by a virus he contracted in Nigeria.

Rooney missed last weekend's Community Shield duel with Portsmouth at Wembley. However, he was able to train, work that he maintained during the week, leaving Ferguson content to pick him against Kevin Keegan's men.

"Wayne has progressed in training all week, he is fit now and he will play," said Ferguson.

United do have plenty of players missing though, including Nani, who is suspended, and Anderson, who is on Olympic Games duty with Brazil.

Yet those two, plus Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, are the major reason Ferguson does not believe John Terry's theory that his side have peaked.

"The challenge for us is to improve," he said.

"You would think with young players like Anderson, Ronaldo, Rooney and Nani we have the capacity to do that.

"There is no doubt in my mind this team will win championships long after I have left.

"There is a good foundation here now."

While the battle to retain Ronaldo's services has been won - for now at least - Ferguson is resigned to being without the Portugal winger until the end of next month following his ankle operation.

But the good news is Ronaldo's rehabilitation has gone well so far, so there are no delays anticipated in the 23-year-old's comeback bid.

"The specialist was most surprised at the condition Cristiano is in," he said.

"He is ahead of schedule, so he will be in rehab for the next three weeks, then he will move onto endurance work and serious running before he goes onto the football side with us."

After being caught cold by decisive starts from Arsenal and Chelsea during a three-year barren run, Ferguson does not need to impress on his players the need to make another fast start.

Against Newcastle, who have not won at Old Trafford in 25 years and conceded 11 goals against United in two meetings last term, victory is normally guaranteed.

But after a sluggish start last term, which brought United only two points from their opening three games, Ferguson is aware victory is not absolutely essential.

"At the time those starts were electric and it made them hard to peg back," he said.

"We corrected that by having a good start, then last season it took us a bit of time to get ourselves focused before we really went on a consistent run.

"You would prefer to get a good start but we are able to go the long distance."