YOUNG Manchester United striker Alex Knotman has told Bury he doesn't want to come on a month's loan to Gigg Lane.

The 20-year-old Scot told Shakers boss Andy Preece he wasn't keen on the loan switch, preferring instead to stay at Old Trafford and play for the reserves.

It's a bitter blow for Preece who is desperate to bring in some new blood to shake up his forward line. And it comes just a week after Preece missed out on securing the services of another talented United youngster, 21-year-old David Healy, who opted to spend a month's loan at Dutch club Fortuna Sittard instead.

But the biggest blow is Knotman because Preece was confident he was going to land his man.

"I read somewhere that we didn't want Knotman because he failed to impress us but that's not true. He is a very good player," said the Bury boss. "I made an enquiry about him but at the moment he doesn't want to go out on loan.

"I've got quite a few names which I am looking at but the search goes on."

With Dean Crowe back at Stoke City after his loan spell came to an end, Preece has got problems in the attacking department. Out his five strikers - Paul Barnes, Adrian Littlejohn, Baichung Bhutia, Lutel James and Preece himself - Littlejohn is the leading scorer with just two in 14 matches!

Most of the goals have come from midfield which is the reason why Bury have been able to maintain their excellent start to the season

"We've got players who can score goals. I've got 28 in a season and Barney and Ady have scored 20 plus so we can do it but it's just not happening at the moment," said Preece, who wants to complete a loan signing in time for Saturday's clash at Wigan.