Page 115 - Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

But plainly, when we bought players in from abroad, we knew less about them, however hard we
investigated their backgrounds, and the peculiar swirl of playing for United could undo some of these
imported names. In 2009–10, we were researching Javier Hernández – nicknamed Chicharito (it
means ‘little pea’). He was 21 years of age. We sent a scout out to live in Mexico for a month. The

information we received was that he was a family boy who was reluctant to leave Mexico. Our
contact out there helped us research his background down to every detail.
United’s support is odd in some respects. We would sign a player for £2 million and some fans
would consider it a sign of weakness and believe we had lowered our standards. Gabriel Obertan
was in that price range. He was greased lightning. But in the final third of the field, his feet were
sometimes all over the place. His task was to coordinate his speed with his brain and deliver the hurt
in the final third of the pitch.

Mame Biram Diouf was recommended by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer through his contacts at Molde in
Norway. Hannover 96 and Eintracht Frankfurt were starting to sniff around him when we stepped up
our interest. So we sent Ole and a club official over and acquired him for 4 million euros. Again, the
background was right, though he never established himself with us.
Chris Smalling was bought from Fulham in January 2010 with the idea that he would join us for the
start of the 2010–11 campaign. He had been playing with non-league Maidstone until 2008, but Roy

Hodgson developed a high regard for him at Fulham. He cost us around £10 million. We moved for
him when Rio Ferdinand started having problems with his back and other parts. We were on to
centre-backs everywhere, all over. We watched them all through 2009–10 and thought Smalling was a
young guy who would mature into his frame. Long-term, I could imagine a central defence forming
around Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans.
There was no resting on the status quo, even in the best times. The longer I stayed, the further I
looked ahead. Regeneration was an everyday duty.