Player Watch: Gabriel Obertan

Unlike many who was quick to dismiss Obertan, I believe Man Utd might have found the answer to Cristiano Ronaldo. Ok... maybe Obertan might never replace Ronaldo, at least not everything Ronaldo has given the club in terms of goals, joga bonito and the attacking threat he brings in set pieces but Obertan sure has more potential than anyone else in the Man Utd squad now to meet that.

The talented winger is a gifted player, as displayed in his recent performance against Wolfsburg. He destroyed that German defence ala Thierry Henry style to deliver a killer assist for Michael Owen. That boy is dope to watch. He came on late in the match and he turned it around, the mark of a great player in the making. Don't we just love skilful wingers... Man Utd is famous for producing George Best, Andrei Kanchelskis, Giggsy, Lee Sharpe and Ronaldo. You can start adding Obertan to that list.

While Antonio Valencia is a solid winger, he is not quite as exciting on the pitch. Obertan is set to replace Ronaldo in terms of his direct style and flamboyant flicks, the kind of player Man Utd fans are blessed with and have grown to love all these years. He is the kind you can build a team around. It is still much too early to say if Obertan might become another Ronaldo. He still needs to work on his shooting and decision making. But the boy is exciting and he generates buzz amongst the fans, slowly if not surely based on that Wolfsburg performance. He is on par if not better than Ronaldo when the Portugese whizkid first arrived. For one, I like the boy's work ethic on the pitch and his teamplay which you cannot say Ronaldo had while making his name in the Man Utd jersey.

I like to see Obertan become the next Ronaldo for sure... but I think he might actually develop into a Thierry Henry, the dominant one man attacking machine we saw at Arsenal (not the basketballer we see against Ireland). He is at the best club to do that. He will get into the habit of winning, and that infectious confidence and insatiable hunger to succeed at the highest level will assist him immensely in fulfilling that big potential. The sooner he develops into a complete player, the sooner we might witness another World Player winner in the making. The supporting cast of Anderson, Welbeck, Macheda, Eikrem, Gibson, King and the Da Silva brothers make a more than encouraging thought for the Man Utd of the future. Notice I left Nani out. I don't think he is good enough based on his development so far. I still harbor hope of seeing Karim Benzema in a Man Utd jersey and ditch that dream of an "all star team". Hopefully, Alexandre Pato or Bojan Krkic will think of Man Utd if they wish to leave their current clubs AC Milan and Barcelona.

The future is looking tremendously exciting.