Back from holidays and the season is just around the corner

My humblest apologies for not posting much content in the last few weeks. As I mentioned I was on Holidays and had limited access to computers. I am back now though and since the World Cup is over, at least the parts I care about, it's time to start thinking about August 14th. Manchester United players who weren't in South Africa are back in training for the upcoming season and there is plenty of excitement building for the coming season. It appears Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand will be fit to start the season although with Rio it's still unclear if he will have enough training and games under his belt in time to face Newcastle. I am also pretty darn excited to see just what Chicharito and Chris Smalling will do in their first seasons with United. Not to mention the potential for a couple of new signings before the season gets under way. It's nice that I always have the excitement of an up coming United title challenge to ease the pain of another failed English World Cup.

It sounds like former United striker Febian Brandy could be lining up in Toronto before too long. The out of contract United hit-man, who is still only 21, has had a lot of interest from Toronto FC. Brandy would like to stay in the Premier League but teams from the Championship and from MLS seem to be the most interested. I always though Brandy looked a decent player as he made his way through the youth ranks at United and I am surprised he isn't more strongly considering a move to a Championship side. He would do well to follow a similar career path to what Ebanks-Blake has done so far.

There are still lots of reports floating around linking United with more summer transfers. Interesting links to Bolton's Gary Cahill and City's Stephen Ireland are still making the rounds. While it seems that Joe Cole's wage demands are what scared Untied away.

And finally let's talk about Javier Hernandez for just a second. There are reports in the papers that Chicharito is keen to prove himself at United this season rather than going out on loan. It seems that a couple of La Liga teams are interested in giving Hernandez a shot at regular first team football. To be honest I was very impressed with the Mexican at the World Cup, he did score one more goal than Rooney, Messi and Ronaldo combined afterall. He is a pacy young striker with a decent first touch and is a confident finisher. I really liked the way he found space and made himself available for his teammates. I would like to see him stay at Old Trafford this season but if Fergie thinks he will be better off long term by going out on loan then so be it. Hopefully he has a chance to play some preseason games, in order to impress the coaches, after his belated summer break.