Real Madrid believe they may have errored when they chose not to offer professional contracts to some of todays biggest and best young stars.

The club's technical secretary, Miguel Angel Portugal, has revealed that he was given the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, amongst other stars, but had no money available.

Brazilian international Anderson will get a run-out for United's Reserves against Manchester City on Tuesday evening.

The 19-year-old summer signing from Porto made his senior debut against Sunderland on Saturday, and Sir Alex Ferguson has taken the decision to give him more playing time at Sports City.

Michael Carrick says having next summer off instead of playing at Euro 2008 would be unthinkable!

“As footballers, we sometimes complain about not getting enough time off. But it’s unthinakble to miss a major tournament.

"The big championships are the things you remember. You need to be there.

Ryan Giggs is set to stick with Manchester United for another two years.

United officials will sit down with the Welsh winger within the month to renegotiate his £75,000-a-week contract.

Giggs, 33, has made 721 appearances and is just 38 away from Bobby Charlton's record.

Owen Hargreaves has assessed the season so far, and is looking forward to getting on the pitch with Ronaldo and Rooney - something he hasn't been able to do yet because of injury and suspensions.

"Any time you don't have players like Louis, Wayne and Cristiano it is difficult. They are three of the best players in England," said Owen.

Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Louis Saha for changing the game in United's favour on Saturday. Louis came on at half time and grabbed the only goal of the match.

"Louis Saha made the obvious difference when he came on," Ferguson said.

"He gives us strength and penetration and he got us the goal. I didn't want to start with him but at half-time I thought he was needed.

Louis Saha has admitted it felt great to score (for the first time in 5 months) on Saturday.

"It was a great feeling to score, but the most important thing was to win because we couldn't allow the gap [between United and the top four teams] to get any bigger," he told Setanta Sports.

"It's not just about my goal though, I thought the whole team played brilliantly in the second half.

Anderson made his Manchester United debut in the 1-0 win over Sunderland at the weekend, and feels great about it...

How did it feel to step out at Old Trafford for your debut against Sunderland?

Manchester United managed to break down a stubborn Sunderland to record a second successive 1-0 victory.

Roy Keane, on his return to Old Trafford, had his Sunderland side organised and solid but on 70 minutes the deadlock was finally broken by French striker Louis Saha.

United winger Nani whipped in a corner and the powerful striker got himself in front of Craig Gordon to head home.