Manchester United Transfer News: Ferguson Taking A Closer Look At Precocious Teen

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that Manchester United are keeping a close eye on Christian Erisken, as the club prepare to face the young midfielder in the Europa League this week.

Eriksen has long been a target for the Red Devils, and assistant coach Rene Meulensteen admitted as much last December.

"This is a player that is on our radar," he said, as reported by the Daily Mail.

"But that is to be expected. If people weren't looking, no-one would ever have an opinion on these players.

"It is true that a player like Eriksen would fit our transfer policy. He is being strongly linked with us, but to suggest that we are about to make a move is not true."

And now, as United look ahead to their Europa League first leg clash with Ajax in Amsterdam, Ferguson has revealed that he knows Eriksen well already, and will be keeping close watch on the 19 year old and how he squares up against the Scot's own squad.

"There's a lot of attention on the young kid, you know, the Danish boy," he told the official United website. "We'll see what he's like and obviously everybody is going to be watching him.

"Ajax have always been capable of producing great players, that's the great thing about that football club. When you think back over the years to the likes of Johan Cruyff and Ruud Krol, they were some players."

Despite not yet being out of his teens, Eriksen has starred for the Ajax senior side, and in 27 appearances he has so far scored six goals.

Eriksen had been connected with a possible move to United in January, but Ferguson insisted that the club would make no purchases in the winter transfer window, though he did admit that the English giants had 'two or three' long term targets in mind.

Why United are targeting Christian Eriksen: