Striker Campbell sets out his case to fill Solskjaer's role at Manchester United

Even as favourite son Ole Gunnar Solskjaer waved an emotional farewell to his Old Trafford playing days, Fraizer Campbell was setting out his own credentials before the Stretford End.

Campbell had no real need to prove his eye for goal after a prolific loan spell at Hull that helped them to promotion and made the 20-year-old a £5million target for manager Phil Brown.

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Super sub: Campbell ensures Solskjaer ends on a winning note

But it does no harm to show a cool head faced with class opposition and Campbell came off the bench, as Solskjaer did so often, to despatch the crucial goal in the 83rd minute in the 1-0 win over Espanyol to the delight of 68,686 fans who turned out to salute their Norwegian star.

Campbell, who impressed on the club's South Africa tour, insisted: 'Now I'm back at United the plan is to force my way into the first-team plans. I'm going to keep working hard and try to do enough to stay.

'It's brilliant to work alongside the great players we have here such as Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Being a part of that can only make me a better player.'

Sir Alex Ferguson certainly rates Campbell.

'He took his goal well - he's an aggressive young player, very quick and determined. He can do well and his future lies here, because we don't have many strikers.'

Not at the moment, anyway. Rooney's absence with a virus is likely to continue until the Community Shield on Sunday, while injury-plagued Louis Saha is on his way out.

Ferguson even went so far as to cite promising Angolan Manucho to swell the numbers if his work permit arrives.

However, United's manager still hopes to pull off a £24million deal to land Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham and that would severely limit Campbell's chances.

The tenacious Tevez was busy making his own case for playing in virtually every game and then there is the small matter of finding room for Cristiano Ronaldo.

The day Berbatov arrives at Old Trafford, Hull's Brown will be ringing Sir Alex again about Campbell.

His accomplished finish to cap Solskjaer's testimonial, courtesy of a sublime surge and pass from the stylish Giggs, showed why. Solskjaer himself was unlucky not to score in an appropriate cameo as substitute, forcing two good saves from Cristian Alvarez.

Now United's reserve team coach, Solskjaer was serenaded one more time by Old Trafford and can put Saturday's £2m proceeds towards his project to build schools in Mozambique, Angola and Malawi.

Meanwhile, Ruud van Nistelrooy has admitted Real Madrid's pursuit of Ronaldo is unsettling their squad.

There is more speculation that Madrid will make a final £60m bid for the Manchester United winger in the hope he will demand a transfer when he returns to the club this week.

Van Nistelrooy said: 'A couple of our players commented that there was only talk about him and not about the current team and stars.

'Everybody's waiting for the next rumour without anything concrete. It is such an issue at the moment in Spain - it gets a bit over the top. If you hear the statements from United it does not sound like they'll let him go.'