Rooney-Welbeck new Yorke-Cole, says Fergie

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes strike pair Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck could emulate the Old Tafford goal-scoring havoc once wreaked by Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.

Welbeck scored his 12th goal of the campaign in last weekend's 4-4 draw with Everton, while Wayne Rooney's double took him to 33.

Those performances brought back memories of the 53 goals that Yorke and Cole plundered during United's 1999 Treble-winning campaign.

"Last week we saw something really special," said Ferguson, ahead of Monday's crucial Premier League showdown with Manchester City.

"I know there was a lot of reference to the Yorke and Cole thing. There were similarities to that. Danny's movement was fantastic. Now he is fit again and playing consistently, he has developed better.

"Wayne is 26 now. Danny is 21. For the next few years they can only get better. We certainly hope so."

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Ferguson believes concentrating on youth development is paying dividends and will continue to do so even if it means allowing the likes of City, Liverpool and Chelsea to flash the cheque books.

"It is hard to change our way of doing things," said Ferguson.

"After the spell of domination, when we won the Treble and following that we had big point margins there was a transitional period.

"We tried to rebuild a team with young players, like Rooney and (Cristiano) Ronaldo and one or two of our own young players were starting to come through.

"I think we will probably stick to what we are doing."
 

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