Red View: Stars salute Scholes, Community Shield + more

STARS SALUTE SCHOLES The world of football has been paying tribute to Paul Scholes on his testimonial night at Old Trafford. A variety of luminaries gave their opinions on the midfield genius to the official souvenir programme and we've reproduced some highlights below. "Playing with Paul was a privilege. He made football look easy, which is a difficult thing to do" - Wayne Rooney. "Paul is one of the most complete footballers I've ever seen. Of all the English players, I've always liked his style of play most" - Xavi. "He is one of the best players I have ever played with. On the pitch his passing ability and heading ability was exceptional" - Tony Adams. "I've always wanted to play like Paul. We more or less play in the same position and so I've been especially interested in how he plays" - Andres Iniesta. "Every one of us should emulate him. We can all learn from Paul Scholes" - Edgar Davids. "Scholesy was one of the most intelligent players I played with in my career. When you're a striker playing in front of him, he makes life easy for you." - Teddy Sheringham. More: More Scholes tributes | Kidd: How Scholes signed TRIO OUT FOR WEMBLEY There was mixed injury news for United fans on Friday, as Sir Alex Ferguson addressed the press ahead of Sunday's Community Shield clash with Manchester City. The Reds boss told reporters that Michael Carrick, Javier Hernandez and Rafael are all set to miss the Wembley showpiece through injury. Carrick complained of "feeling a tightness in his Achilles" during Edwin van der Sar's testimonial game in Amsterdam on Wednesday and won't be risked, while Rafael isn't expected to play, either; he's still recovering from a knock picked up against Barcelona in last weekend's pre-season friendly. Meanwhile, Javier Hernandez is "still two to three weeks away" and "should be back at the end of August". The Mexican suffered a concussion during the New Jersey leg of United's pre-season tour of the USA and the club are unwilling to take any chances rushing him back into action. On the plus side, though, both Darren Fletcher (virus) and Antonio Valencia (ankle) are back in training and expected to challenge for first-team spots in the near future. City look set to start with new signing Sergio Aguero on the bench while Carlos Tevez and Pablo Zabaleta remain on the sidelines. More: Welcome back Eric | Holding the Shield THE SILLY SEASON Why much of the summer speculation becomes tomorrow's fish-and-chip paper... The Gossip, our feature on ManUtd.com, is still going strong ahead of the transfer deadline at the end of the month. An incredible 84 different players have been linked with the Reds since the window opened and that tally will, no doubt, creep closer to three figures before we hit September. We all love a bit of transfer talk, indulging in imagining what X or Y would look like parading in a United shirt and how he would fit into the team. But keeping track of the rumours does highlight the folly of it all when we don't have games to demand our attention. Three signings have been made but it's clear most of the names were never genuine targets for Sir Alex. So what has happened to some of the others? A number have joined rival clubs - Fabio Coentrao, Raphael Varene (both Real Madrid), Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam (both Liverpool), Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona), Mirko Vucinic (Juventus) and Maarten Stekelenburg (Roma) amongst them. Others opted to sign new contracts at their present clubs (including Barcelona prodigy Thiago Alcantara). A few of the prices quoted simply took the breath away - £70m for Lucas? £88m for Edinson Cavani? But it's kept everybody occupied - journalists and fans alike - before the proper football gets back underway this weekend at Wembley. And, while some will be disappointed the boss hasn't splashed out well in excess of £1billion on all these fanciful signings, at least there's one sobering thought on the subject of the silly season. We'd bet good money that our neighbours from across the city have been linked with even more players in the press during the same period! More: The Gossip | Cantona: The Reds will go on   This email was sent by:Manchester United Sir Matt Busby Way Old Trafford, Manchester, M16 0RA, United Kingdom. This email is designed to be viewed in HTML email clients - if you cannot see the images above, please open an HTML-compatible email account and then register the new address with ManUtd.com. If this email has been forwarded to you by a friend, please register with ManUtd.com to receive the MU Foundation newsletter directly in future. The articles and images in this newsletter do not necessarily represent the views of Manchester United FC. If you do not wish to receive this email please send a blank email from your subscription address to unsubscribe@manutd.co.uk. We are committed to respecting your privacy. Please see our Privacy Policy. Please DO NOT reply to this email.