Manchester United are still waiting to receive a formal offer for Alan Smith, their unsettled striker.

Although the wrangle over Carlos Tevez’s proposed move to Old Trafford is now heading for the High Court, United are working on the assumption that the Argentina striker will join them before the August 31 transfer deadline. That, in turn, would cast a huge question mark over Smith’s future, especially as Sir Alex Ferguson admitting the limited number of games he would be able to offer the £6million former Leeds United striker is likely to be a major problem.

Middlesbrough are among a number of clubs to make an informal inquiry for Smith. In fact, contact with United by a number of parties has been frequent, the latest arriving in the form of a text to the phone of David Gill, the chief executive, in China this morning.

However, so far, brief discussions have led to nothing concrete, leaving Smith to return from United’s four-match Far East tour after tomorrow’s concluding encounter with Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals not knowing where he will start the new campaign.

“As yet, we have not had any firm offers for Alan Smith,” said Gill. “A couple of clubs have called to ask us about the situation and we received a text from someone else about it this morning. We will see what happens but so far nothing has resulted from it.”

While it seems certain Smith will eventually end his three-year stay at United, the future of Giuseppe Rossi appears slightly more concrete. After scoring nine goals in an impressive 17-game spell with Parma, the Italy Under-21 star has been attracting interest from a host of Serie A clubs.

Like Smith, Rossi’s first-team chances would be affected by Tevez’s arrival. Ferguson admitted last week that he was in “a bit of a situation” regarding Rossi. But it appears there is now a genuine desire to keep the 20-year-old at United.

“Giuseppe is a player who has attracted interest, particularly from overseas but at the moment he is part of the team and that is how it will stay,” said Gill. “There are a number of young players who have been on loan and have come back to be part of the squad for next season and Giuseppe is one of them.”

United will hope security around tomorrow night’s game is an improvement on their training stint, when fans poured on to the perimeter running track, forcing Ferguson’s men to make a hasty exit until order was eventually restored.

Ferguson has already confirmed China international Dong Fangzhou will feature during the first-half, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney are certain to be given another chance to delight their adoring public. Ronaldo has already hit the ground running in pre-season, netting in all three games on tour so far.

After winning bets with his manager in the previous two campaigns by beating the scoring target Ferguson had set, the 22-year-old’s hope of securing a hat-trick by the Scot’s excessive demands.

“I won’t be having a bet with Ronaldo this season because he has refused my offer,” laughed Ferguson. “I told him that I would be asking for 35 goals from him this year, but he said no, so there will be no betting this season.”

Ronaldo’s fellow countryman Nani should also feature after making his debut against Shenzhen on Monday. The former Sporting Lisbon winger marked the occasion with a goal too, accompanied by a trademark somersault celebration which has only earned him a warning from Ferguson that there must be no repeat.