Alex Ferguson has accepted for the first time that criticism of Juan Sebastian Veron's form may not be unjust, although the Manchester United manager claims he does not regard the £28.1 million he spent on the midfielder as money badly spent.
Ferguson, preparing for tonight's tie against Bayer Leverkusen, admits that the Argentinian had struggled to acclimatise to life in England.
"European games have been meat and drink for him, but he has found it hard in the Premier League," he said.
Radio phone-ins have been inundated with callers questioning Veron's lethargic attitude in Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Manchester City and Stuart Pearson, a former United striker, has accused him of not being dedicated.
"You can't go into a derby game like that," he said. "A couple of his challenges were just embarrassing."
Privately Ferguson might agree, but he is reluctant to criticise players too much. "Seba is like Eric Cantona; he will risk a pass to win a game," he said.
"Sometimes it makes him look careless, but he's not lackadaisical. He always wants the ball and he's got great stamina.
"The money we paid is a lot but I ask myself whether he is contributing, and I think he is."
Veron is likely to be one of several rested tonight as Ferguson fields a much-weakened side, as will be the case with Bayer.
Both teams have qualified for the second phase and United will win the group unless they lose by two goals. "We have to try and get back to winning ways tomorrow. We are already through but it would be nice to win the group," added Ferguson.
There is some element of revenge for the home side, given Leverkusen dumped them out of the competition at the semi-final stage last term. However, the Germans have left their best-known players at home, with Lucio, Oliver Neuville and Bernd Schneider all rested and Yildiray Basturk serving a one-match ban.
"He's left a full team behind but with all the players we have injured at the moment, we don't have that luxury," admitted Ferguson. "I have Saturday's squad, plus David Beckham, Daniel Nardiello and Luke Chadwick, so we only have 18 players available."
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): Ricardo; P Neville, O'Shea, Blanc, Silvestre; Chadwick, Beckham, Scholes, Fortune; Forlan, Solskjaer.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN (4-4-2): Butt; Sebescen, Ramelow, Kleine, Zivkovic; Bierofka, Balitsch, Simak, Babic; Franca, Brdaric.
Referee: V Hrinak (Slovakia)
