Solskjaer out to prove a point

YOU won’t hear Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talking about being the natural successor to David Beckham.

Yet if the Norwegian's early performances on Manchester United's US tour are any guide, Alex Ferguson has just completed the sale of the century.

While Ferguson's decision to dispense with Beckham's services has caused a degree of angst among the Old Trafford faithful if not universal condemnation the worry beads have started to appear at United's failure to land a big-name replacement for the England skipper.

However, after spending most of his first seven seasons at the club being viewed as a super-sub, Solskjaer is out to prove he is capable of holding down a regular first-team berth.

"Hopefully I am being looked upon as a 90-minute player now because that has always been my aim," he said.

"For the first few seasons after I came to United we played two strikers but since Ruud van Nistelrooy arrived, he has played at the top with another man either just behind or a bit wider.

"I have been given that role a few times for Norway, although more often it was on the left.

"However, as I have got older I have grown into a more mature player who can perform in different roles.

"The more you play, the easier it is to adapt and I have taken bits and pieces from my experiences with Norway and brought them into my game with United."

"In the last two seasons, Ole has got more consistency and more strength," said the United boss.

"We never regarded him as a natural wide player but proved adaptable enough to play on both flanks.

"He is an excellent player, has bundles of energy and I think he could go on for another five years."

While Ferguson's praise is always welcome, Solskjaer has been around long enough to know that if he shows any drop in standard, the ruthless United boss will not hesitate to demote him back to the bench.

The bargain £650,000 buy from Molde knows one way to avoid that is to maintain a healthy goal-scoring ratio, even if the number of chances he receives are starting to fall.

He already has two assists on the trip but it is the way he stole behind Ulrik Laursen and finished off Gary Neville's through-ball to put United 3-0 up against Celtic in Seattle which really got the juices flowing.

*United have offered to swap one of their fully autographed jerseys for five shirts that were stolen from midfielder Quinton Fortune last week.

Thieves broke into the home of his parents-in-law home in the Cape Town suburb of Milnerton.