Fergie did consider Vieira

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he did consider signing Inter new boy Patrick Vieira.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he did consider signing Patrick Vieira but that moves towards a second summer signing are "progressing well".

The Red Devils have unveiled Michael Carrick as their latest capture for an initial down-payment of £14 million and Ferguson was quizzed on the transfer front at a press conference.

Vieira has joined Internazionale from Juventus with Villarreal's Marcos Senna widely expected to be an alternative target for Ferguson as he looks to improve his midfield options.

"I think that we've all recognised the midfield area is something we maybe have to bolster and, of course, we kept saying about replacing Roy Keane, that kind of thing," explained Ferguson on Sky Sports News.

"But you can't get a Roy Keane. I've been trying for five years. The best way to approach it was to make sure we had good footballers with good ability to play in midfield for us to give us lots of alternatives.

"Michael's an excellent footballer, a very good passer of a ball and his range of passing is good. I think that, added to the other talents we've got in the midfield, will help us.

"At the time, from memory, it came up when Paul Scholes was at his peak," he said, when asked why he did not sign Carrick when the player left West Ham for a fraction of his current value.

"Sometimes you buy a young player to bring to the club at that point and maybe they wouldn't play every week. It's the learning process - just timing. The same as Rio Ferdinand when he was leaving West Ham to go to Leeds was exactly the same thing.

"I think he's been playing in English football for the last six or seven years. West Ham are a team where most of the young players have come through and got a good education and apprenticeship. They've come from a really good footballing background. Coming to our club is a straightforward change really.

"I don't necessarily agree [we need to sign another midfielder]," he stressed. "We may bring another one in anyway. You could say you could replace Keane with four players and go on and on. He's one of the best players of all-time. As I've said, I've been trying for years - just as we tried with Bryan Robson, when he came to the end. We kept searching and looking for a Robson. Very fortunately, we got Keane, a one-off, and it's exactly the same situation now.

"I don't see any Roy Keanes but I do recognise ability, which is why I bought Michael.

"I think Roy was a possession player. A straightforward A to B passer. His percentage was incredible, always 90 percent plus. Michael is a far more imaginative passer of the ball, he hits longer passes and is a different type of passer from Roy but the most important thing is the ability to retain possession, which Roy was good at."

The Red Devils boss admits he was monitoring the Vieira situation but the move to Inter has ended any hopes of landing the former Arsenal captain.

"A different type of player from Michael? The rumour-mongering might be right," he explained. "Vieira was a player in the Italian situation, which was interesting in that everyone wanted to see what the outcome was going to be.

"Once they were relegated, Juventus were the club everyone was going to target. Milan were not affected by the drop, therefore I don't think any of their players will be leaving. Juve lost Emerson, Lilian Thuram, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta. Now they're talking about Vieira going. It was something we considered, but I believe he's accepted a really good deal from Inter. Therefore, that was the end of it."