Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has expressed his disappointment at having failed to add West Ham's Paolo Di Canio to his squad. United submitted their squad list for the second half of the Champions League campaign earlier today, with Diego Forlan in the place of the departed Andy Cole the only alteration.
Today, Ferguson admitted that United's hopes of signing Di Canio were ultimately undone by Dwight Yorke's refusal to join Middlesbrough. "I'm a bit disappointed as he's the type of player who can change the pattern of the game," Ferguson told Manchester United Radio. "He's a tremendously talented player and it's just disappointing. It all hinged on the Dwight Yorke move, unfortunately. I don't think we'll be back in for him. Dwight has decided to stay for the rest of his contract and that seems to be it. But you never know, something might turn up."
Meanwhile, Di Canio has accused West Ham of being desperate to force him out of the Upton Park club to fund fresh transfer raids by boss Glenn Roeder. The Italian striker's revelations following the breakdown of his move to Manchester United will no doubt alert a whole host of other Premiership clubs eager to snatch up the 33-year-old. Speculation is growing that Roeder actually views the Italian as a disruptive influence at West Ham and if that indeed proves to be the case, di Canio's latest comments will surely inflame the situation.
"I know West Ham desperately want to sell me. They desperately want me to leave the club. I have never asked to leave, but they want to sell me to bring money into the club, maybe to buy other players. The situation is clear. I do not want to go as I want to play here. It's not my problem as I signed a contract a few years ago and have always said I wanted to stay. This is not my problem - this is West Ham's problem. I do not have to say anything and it's not really in my hands, so I can relax," said the Italian.
However, Roeder's comments following last night's 2-0 defeat to Southampton at St Mary's seemed to indicate the Hammers boss was pleased that di Canio was not Manchester-bound and contradict what the Italian has been saying. "We can now get on with our lives as it's been a saga and not a healthy situation. We've got such a small squad and didn't want to lose a player of his calibre in the first place. We're pleased to still have him," he said.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly & Tom Grealis
