Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that he will pay particular attention to highly-rated Ajax playmaker Christian Eriksen when Manchester United meet the Dutch club in the Europa League on Thursday.

United travel to the Amsterdam ArenA for the first leg of their last-32 fixture, with Eriksen expected to be a pivotal figure in the tie.

Speaking of the Danish international, Ferguson said: "There's been a lot of attention on him.

"Everybody's been watching him. We'll see what he's like."

The Glaswegian boss has also said that he is taking the Europa League seriously after describing dropping down to Europe's secondary competition as a "punishment".

"We definitely want to win this tournament," the 70-year-old added. "I am treating this seriously. We're going to have a go.

"The thing is to look forward to it. It's still European football, it's still a good standard of football.

"The great thing is that we don't have a game on the Saturday, so I can play my strongest team and I will play my strongest team."

United will face either Athletic Bilbao or Lokomotiv Moscow if they progress past Ajax.