MANCHESTER UNITED manager Sir Alex Ferguson yesterday refused to dismiss rumours of a bid for German midfielder Mesut Özil – fuelling rumours that the club may be about to swoop for the 21-year-old.

Taking questions after yesterday’s 3-1 win over last year’s Double winners Chelsea in the Community Shield, Ferguson said he was happy with the current squad, and “did not need to add to it” – but was unusually coy on questions about the Werder Bremen midfielder.

Ferguson, unusually, had shown up at Craven Cottage on Saturday to watch Özil’s side play Fulham in a pre-season game, and while not giving any clear sign of intent to bid for the player, evaded four questions on the subject.

He said:

• that he was happy with the squad
• that United play Fulham in two weeks and that it wasn’t unusual to study the opposition
• that “a lot of clubs are interested in Özil. I have a great squad. I don’t need to add to it. But a lot of clubs would be interested in him”
• that he ‘didn’t know’ if United were one of the teams scouting him.

Özil could be available for the comparatively small price of £13.5m – and would be seen as a definite target for United if Ferguson can convince the club’s directors to give him that much money.

United’s finances have come under intense review in the last year, with season ticket subscriptions decimated from last year’s amount and with the club apparently unable to spend the £80m made from selling Cristiano Ronaldo, with the money going straight into debt refinancing.

Indeed, with Chelsea also being linked to the midfielder, Ferguson may simply have been keen not to draw too much attention to a bid, fearing that the champions could simply outbid United if it came to a bidding war.

The midfielder – a German national with Turkish parents – went from a near-unknown to a world-beater at the World Cup, where he became the lynchpin of the German midfield.