Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, is weighing up a move for Nicky Shorey, the Reading and England defender, when the transfer window opens next month. Ferguson may claim to have the strongest squad of his 21-year reign at Old Trafford, but, with Mikaël Silvestre likely to be out until March with a knee injury and Gabriel Heinze sold to Real Madrid last summer, the manager is short of cover for Patrice Evra at left back and has identified Shorey as a target.

Shorey has 18 months to run on his contract with Reading and has been reluctant to sign a new deal, despite the desire of Steve Coppell, the manager, to secure the player’s long-term future, a situation that Ferguson could exploit. United may be reluctant to match Reading’s £5 million-plus valuation of the 26-year-old, but the player could be expected to jump at the prospect of joining the Premier League champions, with his salary swelling in the process.

A striker was thought to be Ferguson’s principal concern, with Nicolas Anelka, of Bolton Wanderers, and Dimitar Berbatov, of Tottenham Hotspur, two of the names in the frame, but the Scot hinted yesterday that there is unlikely to be more than one arrival next month, even if he would probably not pass up the chance to sign a world-class forward if the opportunity arises.

“We’re maybe short of cover in the left-back position now that Gabby Heinze has left, but other than that we’re OK,” the United manager said in the latest edition of Inside United magazine.

Ferguson would prefer to do his transfer business in the summer months, when players have time to settle into their new surroundings – Evra and Nemanja Vidic, who joined the club in January 2006, initially struggled to find their feet after arriving in mid-season – but that alone may not be enough to dissuade the manager from signing players.

“We don’t always get great joy in January,” he said. “It takes players time to settle in when they arrive midway through the season. Look what happened with Evra and Vidic when they arrived, so we’re conscious of that. I think the squad is good enough. We’ll have Park Ji Sung back and Mikaël Silvestre will be back in the new year.”

After an impressive first season in the top flight with Reading last term, Shorey was called up to the England B team for the friendly against Albania B at Turf Moor, Burnley, in May before making his full international debut the next month in the 1-1 draw with Brazil at Wembley. His only other England appearance to date was in the 2-1 friendly defeat by Germany at Wembley in August.

Ferguson has paid tribute to the form of Anderson, the Brazil midfield player signed from FC Porto in the summer, in the absence of the injured Paul Scholes. “He’s been absolutely superb,” the manager said. “The boy’s definitely got something special. There was an urgency to get him once we’d scouted him, even though he’d broken his leg and been out of favour for four or five months, because reports were saying he was the best young player in the world.

“At the time I was saying, ‘For God’s sake, let’s calm down a bit here.’ I knew he had real potential. I didn’t want to put labels on him like that, but we’ve been delighted with him. He’s proven himself to be a true central midfield player.”