SIR ALEX FERGUSON insisted yesterday that he is “not worried” about Paul Scholes, who has been suffering from blurred vision for more than three weeks, but Manchester United’s medical department is sufficiently concerned to have sent the former England player to a second specialist.
Scholes, 31, has not played since suffering concussion during the 2-2 draw away to Birmingham City on December 28 and Ferguson said the problem was not as straightforward as he had first hoped.
“We’re purely guessing what’s wrong at the moment, so we’ll send him to another specialist next week,” Ferguson said. “It’s an unusual situation, because the first one we sent him to is one of the top specialists in the world. The message we got back was that it should clear up OK, but Paul’s vision is still blurred.”
The injury adds to Ferguson’s problems in midfield. At the turn of the 21st century, Ferguson had arguably the greatest midfield quartet in Europe (David Beckham, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs) but one that was growing old. Each of the players the United manager brought in to reshape his midfield (Juan Sebastián Verón, Eric Djemba Djemba, Kléberson and Liam Miller) has been disappointing, prompting Ferguson to ask where have all the top-class midfield players gone.
Many have gone to Chelsea, but Liverpool have not done too badly, adding the masterful Xabi Alonso and the tireless Mohamed Sissoko to the home-grown talent of Steven Gerrard to form a midfield that looks ready to dominate United’s, which consists of a converted defender (John O’Shea), a converted forward (Alan Smith) and Darren Fletcher.