Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he was not intending to sign Javier Hernandez quite so quickly.

The Chivas attacker was confirmed as a new United signing yesterday.

Ferguson was forced into action by the 21-year-old muscling his way into the Mexican national squad, where he has scored four times already, and put himself in line for a place at the World Cup.

"We got some background knowledge about the boy last October and we had more good reports in December," he revealed.

"The feeling was to wait because he was young. But then he got into the national team, which created a problem for us because if he went to the World Cup and did well, there would be a danger of losing him."