IF MANCHESTER United have not already sent a note of thanks to Jean-Marc Bosman then now is surely the time to do so. The Bosman case effectively ended UEFA's restrictions on fielding foreign players and Alex Ferguson is going to need all the talent at his disposal if United are to reach the knockout stages of the Champions Cup this time.
The draw for the Champions League has offered Old Trafford a glimpse of heaven provided they achieve more success in Turkey than they have done in the recent past. Juventus, the European Cup holders, lie immediately across Manchester United's path but eventually they will be back in Turkey, this time to face Fenerbahce and Dalian Atkinson, rather than their previous tormentors, Galatasaray. Rapid Vienna, last season's runners-up in the Cup Winners' Cup, are United's other group opponents.
Fenerbahce, now couched by the Brazilian Sebastiano Lazaroni, could be a tougher prospect than Galatasaray. During the summer they signed Bulgarian forward, Emil Kostadinov, from Bayern Munich and a Nigerian, Jay-Jay Okocha from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Obviously the prospect of United meeting Juventus in Turin a fortnight on Wednesday will add extra spice to the new season. Not least because United are about to find out why Juve considered themselves strong enough to be able to sell Vialli and Ravanelli to English clubs as well as off-loading Carrera, Vierchowod, Paulo Sousa and others elsewhere.
The European champions have signed Boksic, Zidane, Amoruso, Vieri and several more. Against that, Ferguson will be anxious at the thought of facing opponents of this quality without Roy Keane and Phil Neville, let alone Cantona, who serves a one-match European ban held over from two years ago.
Not that United have been given the toughest group. Rangers will be up against Ajax, Champions Cup winners in 1995. They will also face Auxerre, whose removal from last season's UEFA Cup by Nottingham Forest could not disguise the technical superiority of a side that regularly reflects the strongest roots of French football.
Grasshoppers Zurich are hardly make-weights, having eliminated Slavia Prague 6-0 on aggregate to reach the Champions League.
The rest of the draws have been reasonably kind to English interests, an exception being Arsenal who now face the prospect of being eliminated from the UEFA Cup before Arsene Wenger, the French manager due to succeed the sacked Bruce Rioch, arrives. One of the last opponents Arsenal wanted just now were Borussia Moenchengladbach with the opening leg at Highbury. Celtic probably feel the same about Hamburg.
Newcastle and Aston Villa will be up against tricky but negotiable Swedish hurdles in Halmstads and Helsingborgs. Barry Town's heroics have sent them no further than Aberdeen.
