Old Friend Always Say the Truth
Zoran Tosic has revealed that he and his Manchester United team-mates knew before they contested the Champions League final with Barcelona at the end of last month that Cristiano Ronaldo had resolved to leave the club.
Tosic, who joined United from Partizan Belgrade in January, did not travel to Rome with the squad for the ill-fated showdown against the Spaniards. The young winger had featured as a late substitute in United's final Premier League match at Hull City three days previously and he had headed straight home to Serbia to prepare for the European Under-21 Championship in Sweden with his country's team.
But by then he had spoken to Ronaldo and got the clear impression that the Portuguese World Player of the Year had called time on his glittering six-year spell at Old Trafford. Ronaldo has since agreed an £80m transfer to Real Madrid.
"I spoke with him," said Tosic. "He told us that it's enough to be here. He'd won all the awards in England and he wanted to try something else. I think he's going to be again the best player in the world [at Real]. This season was not the best because last season he scored 42 goals, this time 25, and they all said it's the worst season. He scored 25 goals and it's not enough! I think that in Madrid he will be again the best."
Tosic is convinced that Sir Alex Ferguson will sign a big-money replacement for Ronaldo but his looming departure has invited the club's existing wingers to press their starting claims. Nani has already said he can be the man to fill the void while Park Ji-sung has similar ambition.
"My first six months at the club were for me to prepare, to get stronger," said Tosic, "and in the next six months it's important to try and break into the team and prove that I'm a United player. To be honest, I think that probably Cristiano was the best player in the team and so someone will come in to take his place.
"These games at the Under-21 championship are very important for me and then, when we go on pre-season tour, I hope I'm going to get a chance. I played three games [as a substitute] this past season but I was adapting. Next season, if I get a chance, I am ready."
Tosic believes he is comfortable on either flank although his left foot is stronger and the 22-year-old says "the people from Manchester think I can play better on the left side". The club's official website muses: "It could be Tosic who is charged with filling the Welshman's boots when [Ryan] Giggs eventually retires."
Giggs is among those at the club who have done most to help Tosic settle. Paul Scholes is another while Tosic's international team-mate Nemanja Vidic is a friend and neighbour. "Nemanja is maybe five minutes away," said Tosic. "I knew him before from playing in the senior Serbia team and we spend a lot of time together. His wife and my girlfriend are together all the time. Giggsy and Scholesy are also fantastic, they help me a lot. They want to use their experience to help all of us."
Tosic is a tricky if diminutive player who has struggled with the physical aspect of the English game. He admits at times the reserve team league resembled a school of hard knocks. "In a few games for the reserves the players kick me andI was wondering, 'What is going on? Iam going home, I cannot play here.'Then I got through that and it's normal for me."
Tosic speaks English fluently, a legacy of language lessons at school, although he jokes that he struggles to understand Ferguson. His main points of contact at United thus far, as he lives a boyhood dream, are the coaches Mick Phelan and Rene Meulensteen.
"I was a United fan as a kid since we won the 1999 European Cup," he said. "From that moment I was a United fan. I remember when I was just starting to train, I saw a picture of the Serbia national team up in the changing room and I said to the coach, 'I am going to stand there one day and I am going to be a Manchester United player. Those are my two wishes.'"
by David Hytner
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