Fergie losing faith in Saha

Saha missed Tuesday's victory against Sheffield United at Old Trafford with hamstring trouble and has only managed to start 25 games all season.

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And it is understood that United manager Ferguson is increasingly irritated at Saha's failure to play through pain and has not ruled out selling him this summer if he gets a decent offer.

The situation came to a head this week when Saha trained at the weekend and appeared as though he may be fit for selection against Neil Warnock's team on Tuesday night.

But Ferguson was disappointed to hear Saha say on Monday that his hamstring was sore again and that he didn't feel he could play.

With United battling for honours on three fronts, the fixture schedule ahead of Ferguson's players is daunting and as such the Scot needs as many bodies available as possible.

Sources close to Saha last night suggested that the player may be fit for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Milan in 13 days, but not before.

Publically Ferguson has been supportive of French international Saha but privately he is now becoming unsure about whether he has the mental fortitude required to perform consistently at the very highest level of the game.

Asked about Saha's condition after Tuesday's game, Ferguson's reply was telling.

"As regards Saha, I just don't know," he said gruffly.

During his three years at United, Saha has only started 66 games, a poor return on the £12m United paid Fulham in January 2004. Wayne Rooney, for example, has started 125 games in a shorter space of time while Cristiano Ronaldo has been in the starting line-up on 145 occasions.

Saha has been troubled by knee problems on three occasions and has undergone surgery, but it has been the niggles and strains that have annoyed Ferguson this season.

Ferguson knows that he needs a reliable through-the-middle striker to act as a focal point of United's attack and given that Saha has failed to take his opportunity to become the long-term replacement for Ruud van Nistelrooy the manager will try to buy one and offload Saha in the summer.

Newcastle's Michael Owen figures on Ferguson's radar - despite the former Liverpool man's own injury troubles - and so do Dimitar Berbatov of Tottenham and Barcelona's Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Owen would understandably come to Old Trafford like a shot if United trigger the release clause in his contract and although it would harder to prise Berbatov from White Hart Lane, Gudjohnsen is available after a disappointing season in Spain.

The Icelandic international plays a much deeper role than a traditional striker but Ferguson knows that he needs more depth in his squad and is keen to add another player with an imagination to match that of Rooney and Paul Scholes.

Ferguson is a long-standing admirer of the 28-year-old and enquired about him before he left Chelsea for the Nou Camp at the end of last season.

Gudjohnsen was an unused substitute as Barcelona beat Mallorca with a late goal on Sunday and would relish a return to the Premiership.

Ferguson has already spoken to United chief executive David Gill about his plans for the summer and has been told that there is money to spend.

Ferguson said: "I would hope to add a couple of players in the summer who will improve us.

"We're talking about that now. There won't be sweeping changes, maybe just one or two coming in who would have the talent to make a difference.

"One of the benefits we get from playing our style of football, such as in the Roma match last week, is that it makes it easier to persuade top players to come here. They see what we do and they like it.

"That's the kind of football they want to play."

United play their penultimate home league game of the season against Middlesbrough on Satutrday and Ferguson believes Gareth Southgate's team have developed a complex about Ronaldo.

The Portuguese winger has been involved in controversial 'diving' incidents twice against Boro this season with the Teessiders' midfielder George Boateng suggesting recently that Ronaldo could be seriously injured by an opponent if he doesn't cut out his flashy play.

Ferguson said: "I think Middlesbrough have become paranoid about Ronaldo, which to a certain extent, you can understand when you acknowledge that penalties have cost them in their last three fixtures with us.

"They have disputed them all but the referee has got it right on all three occasions.

"Standards have improved and I think that players generally have too much respect and admiration for a player like Ronaldo to set out to seriously injure him.

"They will try to nail him, but not break his leg or anything like that. That's not a worry for me."