Fletcher dismisses retirement concerns

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher has dismissed talk that he will be forced to retire from football due to his long-standing illness.

Fletcher has suffered from a chronic bowel condition which has prevented him from playing since his team’s 2-2 draw with Benfica in the Champions League last November.

Alex Ferguson admitted last week the Scotland captain faced “a great challenge” which prompted speculation Fletcher may have to retire from the game.

“It’s not really an option, I just want to keep playing,” Fletcher said.

“I know someday I will be back. I’m only 28 years old and to talk of retirement, I’m not really thinking about that. I want to give myself every opportunity to get back.”

Fletcher confessed he doesn’t have a set date to return to action but is adamant he will return at some point.

“I’ve not started training yet but I’m just listening to the doctors and just taking my time really,” he said.

“It’s so difficult to talk about because it was such an unexpected illness. I just have to take each day as it comes and at the moment I feel like I’m capable of coming back, then I’ll try and come back.”

Fletcher is also confident that the club will reclaim their “main priority”, the Premier League crown from neighbours Manchester City.

“We feel the same every season, just try and win the league. Champions League maybe. We’ll try and win every cup we go in but the main priority is the league. Obviously after Man City won the league it gives us extra incentive to win it back.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, has challenged Danny Welbeck to break the 20-goal barrier to prove he can be a top-class striker for Manchester United.

Although there have been sporadic claims of interest from United in Robin van Persie, who has decided not to renew his contract with Arsenal, it rather overlooks Welbeck’s impressive development.

Tipped by Ferguson as an outsider for England’s 2010 World Cup squad, the 21-year-old took slightly longer to make his mark.

For it was this summer, at Euro 2012, that Welbeck announced his arrival on the international stage, fending off Andy Carroll to become England’s number one target man.

Welbeck started all four games in Ukraine, scoring a spectacular winner against Sweden in Kiev, doubling an England tally that began the previous month with a well-taken winner against Belgium.

However, when he reports for duty at United’s Carrington training complex later this month, Welbeck faces an even more formidable challenge, living up to his manager’s high expectations.

And for that he will need to increase his output from the 12 goals he scored last term, nine of which came in the Premier League.

“Danny can be a top player but obviously he will have to improve his goalscoring,” said Ferguson. “He got nine goals last season but if you are going to be a top striker you have to get 20 or above. I think he will do that.”

The only difficulty United are encountering with Welbeck just now is the frustrating amount of time it is taking to negotiate a new contract for the striker, whose present deal expires in 12 months’ time.

It had been hoped negotiations would be concluded before the new campaign gets under way.

However, Ferguson has been unable to offer any meaningful update.

“It’s difficult to say where we are with that at this moment in time,” said the Scot.

Yet, if Welbeck headed off on holiday buoyed by his international experience, for strike partner Wayne Rooney it was another summer of frustration.

Once again at a major tournament, Rooney failed to do himself justice, missing England’s opening two games through suspension, then producing below-par displays against Ukraine and Italy as Roy Hodgson’s men crashed out in the quarter-finals. Not that Ferguson was entirely surprised. Having worked with Rooney for eight years now, he always felt that lengthy gap between his star man scoring for United in their last-day win over Sunderland and his opening salvos of Euro 2012 might present an insurmountable barrier.

“I always thought it was difficult,” said Ferguson. “We know him better than anybody and he needs a lot of football. Wayne’s a stocky lad. If he misses a couple of games, it takes him three or four to come back and he didn’t play from his last game (for United) on May 13 until the third game of the Euros more than a month later.”

In fact, Rooney did manage a 37-minute friendly appearance against Belgium in between.

However, when England needed a big performance from their talisman against Italy, Ferguson detected tiredness from his outing against Ukraine.

“He didn’t look as sharp as normal,” said Ferguson. “It is very hard to play two big games in four days.”