Manchester United Football Club News

• Nickname:Red Devils
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

• Ground:Old Trafford
• Capacity:68,174

Smith keeps the faith

14 Mar 2007 - 16:08:06

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Manchester United striker Alan Smith insists he has no intention of leaving Old Trafford and is determined to win his first-team place back.

The former Leeds United star has struggled to regain his form and fitness since suffering a horrific leg injury 13 months ago and rejected the opportunity to move to another club on loan during the January transfer window.

Smith has recently been linked with a summer move, but told the Manchester Evening News: "I'm not leaving, it's as simple as that. There's been a lot of speculation but I'm going nowhere.

"I feel I'm good enough to play in this team, I've always believed that. That's why I signed.

"The manager gave me the option to go out on loan but I didn't want to.

"I'm sure he thought it was in the best interests of both myself and the club but I told him I believed I was good enough to play in his team when I'm fit and he accepted that.

"If I'd gone on loan and Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer) and Louis (Saha) had been injured and Henrik (Larsson) had gone, we'd have been down to one striker.

"There'd have been nothing worse for me than to leave and be somewhere else when this club was short on strikers.

"I don't want to be on loan somewhere else and miss the games coming up when I feel I can be an important part of this squad."