Ferguson happy to see back of Morrison

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he was glad to sell youth prospect Ravel Morrison.

Morrison, who joined West Ham in January, was reportedly unhappy with his failure to break through at Old Trafford and questions had been raised about his discipline.

Ferguson, though, is keen to keep hold of promising Frenchman Paul Pogba, who has been linked with a move to Juventus.

“We wanted to sell Morrison, let’s be clear about that, for obvious reasons,” Ferguson said.

“But we want Pogba to stay because we think he’s going to be a fantastic Manchester United player and hopefully that’s the case.”

United host Fulham on Monday evening, and Ferguson has said Pogba will be involved in some capacity after playing in a reserve game against Aston Villa.

“Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have been in and out in particular in terms of illness and injuries over the last couple of months,” he said.

“Tom Cleverley, Paul Pogba and Fabio all had a game. We took Paul off purely because he will be involved on Monday.

“It puts us in a position where we have quite a strong squad now. We are only waiting on Nani and Michael Owen. We expect both of them to restart training next week.

“Every game is a must-win game. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going.

“We have to kick on with nine league games and hopefully we pick the right teams. Each game represents its own challenge as we go along – we need to win all of them.

“The players have shown resilience and dug in and we’re in the position now because of that.

“Getting players back strengthens our challenge. We’re delighted to have most of the players fit now – it gives me a variety.”