Larsson to join Man. United until March 12

Former Barcelona and Celtic striker Henrik Larsson is to join Manchester United on loan from his Swedish hometown club Helsingborg, the club said yesterday.

The ex-Sweden international, 35, had been expected to end his career at Helsingborg, having returned there after the World Cup in Germany following a two-year stint with Barcelona.

Larsson will go on loan to United from January 1 to March 12.

"I will travel to Manchester on December 17 to train and then I'll go back again after Christmas and New Year's Eve. My family thought it was okay, so there were no doubts," Larsson told a media conference.

"We haven't talked about how they (United) will be using me, but we'll have to discuss it. It's a very fun thing to experience at this late stage of my career."

Larsson, who returned to Helsingborg after 13 years abroad during which he also played for Feyenoord and Celtic, will not miss any Swedish matches as the league kicks off in April.

"If it had been a question of a longer period than to March we would have said no to the deal," Helsingborg chairman Sten-Inge Fredrin said.

Larsson is in the twilight of his career but proved six months ago he has lost little of his searing pace or his eye for a goal.

In May, he helped to transform the Champions League final when he came on as a 60th minute substitute for Barcelona and made both goals to turn a 1-0 deficit against Arsenal into a 2-1 victory march.

The following month he scored Sweden's last-minute equaliser to give them a 2-2 draw in the World Cup against England - and he will now come up against some of those same players during his on-loan spell at United.

They will take him lightly at their peril.

United have already scored 33 league goals this season - more than any other team in the Premier League - and should be even more potent in attack with Larsson on board.