Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed he would be open to sprint king Usain Bolt putting on the famous red shirt of Manchester United at some point in the future.

Bolt has made it clear he would like a chance to play for his favorite club at some point, saying he would be a very good asset to the United side. Ferguson, who has met Bolt plenty of times, said the Jamaican Olympic champions is always welcome at United's Carrington training ground.

"He's been to Carrington a couple of times," Ferguson told Inside United. "And he did help Cristiano Ronaldo with his sprinting, like he said. He took him aside one day.

"He's a bit of a character and a big United fan. But it's interesting he says he'd like to play in a charity game. It could be brilliant and next year, when we play Real Madrid's Legends again, there could be opportunities to bring him up and see how he does.

"The people from these small islands, like Dwight Yorke from Trinidad & Tobago, they all play football and he probably played at school level or youth level or something like that. It'd be nice to get him up here, I think it'll be good."

Ferguson went on to congratulate Bolt, after the 26-year-old defended all three of his titles - 100 meters, 200 and 4x100 relay - at the London Olympics. "He was phenomenal," Ferguson added. "I must thank him because that was my biggest bet.

"Bolt was 4/5 to win each of them, the 100 and 200, a week before the tournament started. It was a brilliant bet, I couldn't believe it!

"He's the fastest man in the world and the others would have to have taken half a second off their running to beat him. He's phenomenal!"