Ronaldo's departure to Real Madrid was as much about Manchester United being freed up to move into a new era as it was about a huge fee being brought into the club for a player that wanted to leave anyway.

History tells you that United have always continued apace after a big name player has sought out other pastures. Despite what some in the media believe Ronaldo is no more irreplaceable than David Beckham, Geroge Best, Jaap Stam, Eric Cantona and Roy Keane were.

Besides, business is business, and Ronaldo's transfer to Spain was great business. Part of that process is looking at increasing the value of players we bring to Old Trafford.

Ronaldo was signed for £12million and sold for £80million. Over six years, in commercial terms that is an astounding profit.

Of course some of that profit was invested in Antonio Valencia and he is going to be very much part of this new era. So too, among others, will be Johnny Evans, the Da Silva twins, Anderson, Zoran Tosic, Fredrico Machieda and Danny Wellbeck. The coaching staff have invested their skills and time in those lads. Some are further down the road in their development than others but it is now that they must grasp the opportunities that come their way and be consistent enough to be a big part of the future.

That future will rely on more of a collective effort than perhaps it was when Ronaldo was around. He has been the club's top scorer for the last few years. Over the next nine months or so we will be looking for goals to come from all over the pitch. There's always been a team ethic at Manchester United, we defend from the front, our 4-4-2 quickly becomes a 4-5-1 when we lose possession. Ronaldo was less defensively inclined. In some ways Ronaldo was a luxury, Valencia will make and score goals and defend better. Nobody is making up for the loss of Ronaldo, more we are moving into a different era or put another way we are changing direction, even if that change is a subtle one.

So what has Michael Owen got to do with all of this? He's not in his early twenties, nor was he in form last season and has spent periods out of a team that was relegated with injury. Of course, he is a gamble, some would say more of a gamble than others because of age and time out through injury. All new signings come with a degree of risk.

You can never be 100 per cent certain a new player will work out.

But Michael is a clever player who wants to play on the line of defenders. He is not as quick as he used to be but he is not one-paced either. He is also a goal scorer of the type that finds the net, gets that vital goal when perhaps the team are not playing that well. Those sorts of goal scorers are very rare. His cleverness dovetails into the rest of the side, he's a goal scorer that also understands the needs of those around him. Again, rare.

In one way his arrival brings a parallel to the past. Eric Cantona was
26 when he joined United from Leeds, a signing at the time that was viewed by some as big gamble. He brought something different and galvanised a young team into winning Premier League titles. Teddy Sheringham was 31 when he rolled up at Old Trafford, he brought something with him too that rounded off a side that won the treble in 1999. But at the time many puzzled as to why United would want a player who, on the surface at least, was in the Autumn of his career and never had any pace anyway.

Michael is 30 in December, and this Summer the world wondered again why United had brought in a footballer who seemed on a downward rather than an upward spiral. He joins a team that is young, some of those youngsters are on the cusp of being let loose into a new era. The past has shown, or rather Sir Alex Ferguson's judgement has shown that sometimes you need an older head around to ensure that new era's are ushered in, in the right way.