Martin O'Neill has backed Henrik Larsson to be a "major player" at Manchester United, the Aston Villa manager predicting the Swede will prove to be the final piece in the Premiership leaders' attacking jigsaw.

O'Neill, who has to come up with a plan to cope with the former Celtic striker on Sunday when he is expected to make his debut in the English FA Cup third-round tie at Old Trafford, believes Larsson's ability to poach goals is the one quality United have been missing this season.

Although Alex Ferguson's side have scored freely since Ruud van Nistelrooy joined Real Madrid during the summer, the Netherlands international's departure has deprived United of a natural goalscorer. It is a void O'Neill is expecting Larsson to fill with interest.

"Henrik going there gives United a chance to change things around up front," O'Neill said. "He is a goalscorer, scores a lot in the box and could finish off some of United's moves. United are scorers of great goals but not necessarily the simple ones."

Larsson, who is likely to partner Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in attack against Villa, will spend three months with United before returning to Helsingborgs in Sweden. That gives him little time to make an impact, but O'Neill, who has no regrets about not trying to lure the former Barcelona striker to Villa, believes the 35-year-old may still return to Sweden having left his mark on Old Trafford.

"You can always rely on Henrik to pull something out of the fire," added O'Neill, for whom Larsson played when he was Celtic's manager. "He has the capability of being a major player even in the short period of about 12 weeks. After the European Cup final, where he came on and changed the game, he would have been having thoughts about whether he could still do it at the highest level. Even at 35 he has the ability to score in the Premiership.

"A lot of people used to say he was only doing it in Scotland, but he went to the Uefa Cup final and played the game of his life and scored twice."

United's Argentina full-back Gabriel Heinze is also anticipating great things from Larsson. "He is one of my favourite players in the sense of what he has achieved, not just in Spain, but also at Celtic," said Heinze. "I think he is a great signing for us and will do really well here. Larsson has been excellent wherever he has gone and done well wherever he has played.

"I saw him a lot for Barcelona. He was remarkable there considering he had come back from a bad injury. Yet when he returned he was the same player as before. If you are a bright young player you can learn from Henrik Larsson."

Guardian Service