The lure of Old Trafford is simply too strong for most players and Sir Alex Ferguson invariably gets his man. Should they edge nearer to Everton’s valuation of Wayne Rooney ahead of the closure of the transfer window, the 18-year-old will surely be wearing a red shirt by the time he has recovered from the metatarsal fracture sustained at Euro 2004.

Euro 2004 introduced some new and explosive players to the world of football. Dominic Fifield takes a look at them, from Roma’s Antonio Cassano — born a day after Italy won the 1982 World Cup in Spain — to PSV Eindhoven’s Johann Vonlanthen, included in Euro 2004 only because of injuries to Marco Streller and Leonard Thurrer.

It took a Frenchman with divided loyalties to offer the sceptics, hypnotised by a season of Gallic glory at Highbury, hope for the Euro 2004 tournament ahead. “There are areas in which I think England will be superior to France,” said Gérard Houllier. “Do you see anyone in world football better than Steven Gerrard at the moment?”

The mood was subdued at Turf Moor as Mick McCarthy shrugged off a victorious end to the league season proper and turned his attention to the play-offs. “We haven’t achieved anything yet, but it’s good to finish third,” said the Sunderland manager with a sigh. But Sunderland must rise above automatic disappointment.

A new era dawned at Leeds United this week with the newly installed owners failing to offer assurances that either the club’s best players or the stadium would not be sold, and a stark admission that yet more ”painful” times remain ahead, with cutbacks of up to £15-million still ahead.

Middlesbrough’s chairperson Steve Gibson fears eventually losing his manager, Steve McClaren, to the call of either the Premiership’s top trio or the national side in the future, though he envisages him remaining at the Riverside for the time being. “We know Steve might get called at some stage,” said Gibson.

Wayne Rooney had been and gone, Tomasz Radzinski was dotting his final ”i” with a flourish and the last of the spring rolls sat soggy and shunned when the man of the moment arrived at the monthly supporters’ meal.

Had things gone as planned, Salif Diao would have trotted out in the green of Sedan last Saturday afternoon, side-stepping his side’s wild boar mascot on the touchline ahead of a grim relegation struggle at Montpellier.

For a country obsessed with the way it is perceived overseas, progress into the last eight has proved a godsend. At last, the world is sitting up and taking notice of all things Korean.