In case you didn't know, another badly kept secret in sport was finally confirmed - Zlatan Ibrahimovic has joined Manchester United.
United fans are thrilled, it's that period after disappointment when something big happens - like Louis Van Gaal is announced as their manager, or Bastian Schweinsteiger signs - when optimism is high. Let's wait until the games start.
But Ibrahimovic, like Schweinsteiger - represents another move that wouldn't have been imaginable in the Fergie era - signing a big player on huge wages who is well into their 30's. Former Ferguson assistant Renee Meulensteen said just as much in today's papers:
Maybe nine times out of ten he would not have made a decision like this.
That is because of everything that Alex Ferguson wanted to do with youngsters — bring them through and improve them as players.
But if he felt the situation was there for the one time out of ten, he would do it. Like bringing in Laurent Blanc, a player in his 30s, after Jaap Stam left.
Ryan Giggs' departure just shows how few people have remained at Old Trafford since the Fergie era. It's only been four years, and yet the squad turnover has been so big that there are only 10 players still at Old Trafford who played under Ferguson - with three of those being Jesse Lingard, Tyler Blackett, and Will Keane.
That's a huge amount of change at one club in such a short period of time. You could still see some effect of Ferguson there at United in the immediate years after his retirement - but with Giggs leaving that may not be true anymore.
