Saturday, 1st September 2007 at 12:19 pm

Benni McCarthy misses out on Manchester United

Cape Town, quite simply, would have gone berserk. Already a satellite temple to life at Old Trafford, the Manchester United-mad city would have beside itself if the transfer had gone through. But while Feverpitcher has it on good authority that Benni was called into Blackburn Rovers HQ late on Friday night to discuss an offer, the midnight transfer deadline came and went with no move, and so the temperamental Bafana Bafana striker won’t be signing for Manchester United.

A number of clubs have expressed interest in the striker only Didier Drogba scored more goals than in last season’s Premiership, Drogba’s Chelsea being one of them; with Wayne Rooney out for at least a couple of months, Carlos Tevez still finding his feet, and Ole Gunner Solksjaer finally succumbing to one of football’s more unforgiving string of injuries, Sir Alex Ferguson has had good reason to look for support up front.

And McCarthy would have jumped at the chance (with slightly more enthusiasm, dare we suggest, than the call-up for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier away to Burkina Faso), which does leave the question of what went wrong. Not enough money from United? Too much demanded by Blackburn (Mark Hughes would have let Benni go most reluctantly)? Simply not enough time to tie up the deal? Whatever the reason, Cape Town’s dream deal didn’t go through; Old Trafford will still be the object of Cape devotion, but Benni in a United shirt would set the city alight.

• Read the full list of Premiership transfers in The Times.