Kagawa to United

It is always an exciting moment for Manchester United fans up and down the land when a new signing is announced, yet today's announcement of the near completion of a move for Japanese playmaker Shinji Kagawa is a signing that comes out of the ordinary but one that could potentially be another Sir Alex masterstroke.

This time last year United completed the signings of Phil Jones and Ashley Young, two promising young English talents, proven at Premiership level and with years ahead of them. We all knew what United would be getting with these signings. However, there has been a dying need for the Reds to go out and find a creative midfielder, with the team crying out for a flair player to unlock defences, whilst also chipping in with a fair share of goals.

Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and more recently Eden Hazard have all been linked with such a move, but when Hazard opted for Stamford Bridge and the lure of joining a Champions League winning side, Ferguson had to move quickly to secure an alternative. And on paper, Kagawa's statistics suggest that he could be just what United have been searching for, a player who can provide for the goal hungry Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck.

Kagawa has lit up the German Bundesliga with both assists and goals, and could easily leave Ferguson yet again as the last man laughing, especially if the astronomical figures quoted for Hazard prove to be another monumental piece of poor business for Chelsea.

Perhaps what this move demonstrates is exactly the stance that Ferguson continues to deploy in the transfer market; searching for hidden talents that can emerge as leading lights without the glamour of inflated fees and wages. And after all, this is a tactic that lead United to finish the season only seconds away from lifting a completely unexpected twentieth title, against a side oozing with multi-million pound signings from the upper echelons of World Football.

Kagawa, at 23, has years ahead of him, and with the Sneijder deal looking increasingly unlikely as every window passes, the Japanese youngster could develop and flourish to be another act of wizardry from the man who very rarely makes mistakes when it comes to signing players.