The domestic season may be four days from conclusion, but column inches are there to be filled, speculation to be drawn and presumptive deals scooped. There is, after all, nearly a month before the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, almost 15 weeks before the 2012/13 Premier League season begins in earnest on 18 August, and 114 days before the transfer window slams shut at the end of August. And it always slams. Start the Sky Sports ticker rolling, stir Jim White from his hibernation, for silly season has begun!
Except, at Old Trafford, there are likely to be few dramas this summer, with Sir Alex Ferguson seeking just “two or three” additions to his squad, with the manager adding youth and pace to his squad. More to the point, few believe the great Scot will be afforded any significant sum to invest in the market this summer. It leaves Ferguson wrestling with a squad that is likely to finish trophyless, and in need of a refresh if it is to compete at home and abroad next season.
While Sir Alex can boast youth in depth, the 70-year-old United manager must also consider question marks hanging over more than half-a-dozen first team players, including those perennially injury-prone, sick or under-performing.
That United is stronger than after the club’s last silverware-free season in 2004-5 is not in doubt. After all, Ferguson’s team featured Eric Djemba-Djema, Kleberson, David Bellion and Dong in that campaign. But the competition for trophies will be more intense next season than seven years ago. Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and perhaps even Tottenham Hotspur are likely to be highly active players during the summer window.
Indeed, City will invest from a position of strength and unlimited sovereign wealth at Roberto Mancini’s disposal. In west London Roman Abramovich will once again sign-off on a Chelsea rebuilding programme, while at Arsenal the penny may have finally dropped – Arsène Wenger securing two productive acquisitions in Lukas Podolski and Yann M’Vila.
Ferguson’s limited transfer budget – thought to be less than £30 million unless there are substantial player departures – leaves the Scot in a now familiar position of working the market for bargains and ‘value’.
One wonders what Wayne Rooney must think of it all 18 months on from the player’s now infamous “lack of ambition” press release at the height of the October 2010 contract dispute.
Rooney handled that affair with a gross lack of tact, allowing agent Paul Stretford to conduct a media campaign that brought embarrassment on his client, but was rewarded with a very large cheque nontheless. Yet, whatever assurances the 26-year-old striker received on signing the new five-year contract alongside a beaming David Gill and Sir Alex, United’s strategy has changed little since. It should surprise few if the Rooney camp once again agitates for change this summer.
Typical of recent seasons, United will seek to acquire younger players in the break, although having spent around £38 million net over the past 12 months the smart money is on a far smaller outlay this window. The family’s average net spend of around £7.5 million per season during its seven year Old Trafford tenure should provide ample guidance that the purse strings will remain tightly guarded until United IPOs, perhaps in the autumn.
However, the Reds may have already tied up a deal for Crystal Palace defender Nathaniel Clyne who has been outstanding at right-back for the south London side this season. The 21-year-old Englishman is expected to compete with Rafael da Silva for United’s full-back slot next season. Clyne, who is out-of-contract, will join for a low seven-figure fee.
Meanwhile, speculation that United has already secured a deal with Borussia Dortmund for Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa is premature, but the Reds remain in a good position to conclude the transfer. After all, it is an archetypal Glazer purchase, with Kagawa just 23-years-old and out-of-contract in 2013. With the player unwilling to sign a new deal in Germany, Dortmund will accept a transfer at a far lower fee than in normal circumstances. Reports of a €10 million fee may well be wide of the mark, but United could still secure a bargain deal for the two-time Bundesliga winner.
Kagawa will add pace and guile in what many expect to be a more flexible attacking formation next season than the oft-pedestrian performances during the current campaign.
Elsewhere, United’s strategy is less clear, although fans can be certain that the club is not in the frame for Arsenal’s Robin van Persie, despite the column inch filling reports on Wednesday. Nor in fact any of Europe’s leading names, including Eden Hazard, Fernando Llorente, Iker Muniain, Nicolas Gaitan, or half-a-dozen other £20 million plus moves who will head elsewhere in the summer.
However, Ferguson does have gaps in his squad that younger players cannot fill. At left-back the Scot needs cover for Patrice Evra at a minimum, with Fabio da Silva set to spend the season away from the club on loan. Meanwhile, in midfield persistent injuries to Anderson and Darren Fletcher’s long-term illness dictates the need for additional resources whatever the eventual outcome with Kagawa. After all, Paul Scholes is yet to sign a new deal, and is unlikely to play more than 30 games in a campaign anyway. Owen Hargreaves has never been replaced.
Much will be expected of Tom Cleverley once again, but the 23-year-old has suffered lengthy injuries in each of his four seasons of first team football to date, whether at United or elsewhere on loan. It would surely be a strategic mistake to bet on the fitness of Cleverley, Anderson, and Fletcher next season.
Meanwhile, in attack, Dimitar Berbatov is set to leave, although United will demand a fee for the Bulgarian, raising the spectre of the striker warming the Old Trafford bench once again until the club raises the cash it is after. Tomasz Kuszack, Darron Gibson and Mame Biram Diouf will each attest to that strategy.
However, Michael Owen will surely not be offered a new contract after a third unproductive season in a row, although the ex-Liverpool forward’s ‘cost-effectiveness’ remains attractive to Old Trafford bean counters. Federico Macheda will leave the club on loan, if not permanently, while a number of younger reserve players, including Will Keane will be sent to the Championship for a season.
This leaves Ferguson in search of a fourth senior striker if one can be found in the bargains bin.
Yet, for the most part while the campaign has proven to be highly underwhelming, it is likely that silly season will follow a similar pattern. Those fans seeking big name acquisitions will be disappointed. It is a strategy that may leave United playing catch up in a little over 100 days time.
I have had a sick feeling for over a year that Fergie has been forced to play along and make do with his current squad and wait for the resources that may come from the IPO. The Glazers probably had hoped to have the IPO sorted before this summer at the latest, but given the current global economic situation, it has been delayed and now will not be finialised to provide Fergie with the funds needed before the next transfer window “SLAMS SHUT”.
Either way, I don’t think we need a total re-vamp. Our early season form with Cleverly, Rooney and Anderson interplaying to great effect was exciting and effective. A left full back, as you said yourself Ed a mean bastard for centre midfield and a centre forward. Sell/move on Park, Anderson, Berba and Owen. Fletcher deserves our patience and support to see how he gets on with his recovery.
The last time we ended up trophyless we did O.K. over the next few seasons after all.
Then we are f….d next season if that’s true need to spend big on proven talent 2 CM 1 striker a left and right back if not 4th prem and no chance in CL and ferguson needs to stop lying for the glazers so he can pick up is 6 and half million a season and I wouldn’t blame Rooney if he asked for a transfer he’s been lied to by the glazers and ferguson just like us fans
That’s a nice rhetoric, but if Wayne stirs up a fuss again all of us will be gunning for his head, It’s 2nd place for god’s sake and even though there have been a few blunders this season, let’s not get carried away here…
The indecency of it all…
2 CMs 1 of which attacking 1 defensive like Martinez 2 defenders someone like Baines and Mbia Montpellier and a top quality striker anything less and next this will be very poor indeed Cleverley ain’t good enough and is always injured welbeck’s 1st touch is poor we’ve enough could be young player time for proven talent and back to ferguson he blotted his legendary record when he started lying for the glazers for money at anytime he could and still can tell it the way it is tell the fans exactly how it is let’s face it they ain’t gonna sack him there would be a outcry and anyway he’s nearly 71 FFS but he isn’t doing that cos they’ve promised him a back hander to keep up with the no value in the Market bulls..t and his six and half million a season it’s a f…..g disgrace is ferguson now part of the problem and NOT the solution he’s a greedy old man
Oh, cool, I like puzzles… This one appears to be some sort of word jumble.
Good God man, punctuation!
Good god man, brains.
NO MORE LIES FERGUSON!!!!
TELL IT HAS IT IS!!!!
given our team this season, we have done well to be in the title race considering we have been missing 2 key players for most of the season.
it looks like pogba is finally gone too.
i hope you are wrong and fergie gets a good budget which he is willing to spend. if the glazers have any brain cells they need to realise its spend now or start a downward spiral.
looking at our squad Clyne would be good, cheap, young and fit in well. cbs we are strong at when Vidic is fit but we could maybe do with a guy who isnt too young or old plus a LB to compete with and eventually replace Evra.
central midfield is a nightmare and we need at least 2 quality signings a ball winner and a modric type.
Kagawa would be a smart signing but i would want him in addition to those midfielders, he could play on either wing or behind a striker.
our wings seem full at the moment despite the players we have been linked with, so unless someones leaving then no one new should be brought in.
up front we are losing berba and if we are after someone new he needs to be someone of high quality or someone who offers a different option to the guys we have so a llorente would be perfect.
in a perfect word we would sign
Clyne/ Iraola(i wanted him last summer and his had a great season)
a cb/lb
Javi Martinez
Modric/there are cheaper options but that type of player
Kagawa/Sneijder
Iker Muniain/a good young winger (if we sell a winger)
Llorente
but from the past few summers i know we will be lucky to see anyone great sign let alone that many and i doubt Bilbao would let them all go.
i would be happy with cheap well scouted players in those areas too.
but we cant afford to sit on our hands for another summer.
I know Blibao beat us but that does’t mean we need to buy their whole team. Other teams have good players.
And Javi Martinez has spent the entire season at CB. We don’t need/cannot afford another Jones. Also had a terrible game tonight imo.
Why do we need a CB? Rio, Vidic, Evans, Smalling, Jones (he’ll get there eventually) is surely enough.
Otherwise I agree with you. Need specialised competition at RB/LB, two CMs (can get away with one if Fletcher makes a full recovery), a playmaker, Striker if Berba leaves and even if we don’t sell a winger a 4th who could also play through the middle would be good.
Guys, you need to get in touch with reality. We have a 30m budget that could rise to about 55m if we sell Berba, Park, Anderson and Owen. Consider this: we have Carrick, Fletcher, Cleverley, Giggs and Scholes (assuming Scholes signs on and Ando takes a hike, that is). We have here a situation wherein only Carrick is a reliable component of our first XI, but all of the rest are part of the squad for a reason and will NOT be marginalized in spite of what our FM-tuned minds might fancy.
That being said, we can’t add 2 CMs, a CAM, a winger and a sriker. It would create a bloated squad in terms of both budget and competition. The idea of a 6th CB for the squad, BTW, borders on the sinister- you need to have faith in Jones and Smalling and remember that we still have Vidic, Ferdinand and the much improved Evans.
Anyway, my realistic wish-list is this:
1. Nathaniel Clyne (free).
2. Leighton Baines (10m pounds).
3. Oscar De Marcos (20m pounds).
4. Kwadwo Asamoah (15m pounds).
5. A young winger for about 10m pounds, preferrably left-footed,
Even this might be hard to get if the budget is set on 30m, but if it’s attainable I like the thought of it.
Clyne and Baines are both English, which is important for the ethos of the clubs, More importantly, they’re both fine full-backs and will create vital competition for Rafael and Evra. We’ll have 7 CMs with both De Marcos and possibly Cleverley able to play as CAMs. 4-2-3-1 is our best formation, I feel, for those difficult away (and home) matches.
I’m not sure as to the LW’s identity. Any ideas?
You think we can raise £25m from the sale of Berba, Park, Ando and Owen? The market will have truly lost the plot if that happens. We will sell Berba for £4m at the most, Ando for about the same. We’ll be lucky to get £1m for Ji and Wen will go on a free.
No, I don’t think they’ll fetch 25m- that was just my optimistic self getting the better of me. Owen will leave on a free (his contract expires soon), Berba for 6m, Park for 4m and Ando for 8m.
That’s what I estimate them to be worth and I don’t expect a shortage of suitors for either. All in all, that’s 18m.
I know, even this is optimistic. So let’s call this the “optimisitc” estimation, my other one the “far-fetched” and yours the “pessimistic”.
How can you say anderson played exciting football so we don’t need a revamp and then say sell him
I personally don’t think we should or can afford to sell him. He is only 23 and still has time – look how shit Fletcher was before he was suddenly our best CM. Think he was 25 then.
Also our early season form was not effective. Conceding the amount of chances and goals that we were is not sustainable, especially when you play a top team. Scholes, Hargreaves and Fletch all need replacing – thanks to Cleverley emerging as an option, we probably only need two CMs. I would much rather have a CM who was comfortable in possession with a good range of passing than a ‘mean bastard’ as well.
I think we’ll get one established CM (24-27 yrs) and a younger prospect. Given our need at CM not sure why there is so much talk of LWs. We have the best and most productive wingers in the league (silva aside). Can’t see a new striker either. Owen is easy to keep and can’t see Macheda going out again given his past experiences. He’ll be sold or given a chance.
Also, for everyone saying Kagawa is a CM. He clearly isn’t (wouldn’t replace Fletcher/Hargreaves/Scholes) so signing him would not address our deficiencies in the squad, it would merely signal a change in formation.
I remember at he end of last season a few people were saying at would have been better (long term) if we had lost the title because it would have forced the club to address our deficiencies. Maybe this season we will.
Waiting for the IPO to go through in the Autumn may well mean that we miss out on a lot of players with clubs looking to get deals done before the start of the Euros. We’ll likely be picking through the dregs anyway though.
“look how shit Fletcher was before he was suddenly our best CM.”
Thanks again Ed for telling it like iot is and not hiding under the covers like a few United supporters are now. The season hasn’t even finished yet and there seems to be a lot of pessimism about next season which can’t be good fort the club. VBut we have to face reality that there will be no big signings in the summer and we may have to make do with our pensioner MF. Sad but true.
Oh and to address a few earlier points…
1. There is no way we’ll pay 15m pounds to get Baines – who is 27.
2. Anderson has had his chance and should be out the door while he can still fit through it.
3. Kagawa is not a CM as someone pointed out and would be a welcome addition as an attacking player. But there would still be a huge void in central MF.
4. Arsenal – yes ARSENAL – have already made signings andspent money to make some good signings. We could get left behind next season by the otehr top clubs because you know th elikes of City and Chelsea will spend loads of cash.
Jones (£20.5m), Young (£18m, De Gea (£18.9m). Total – £57.4m.
Money has been made available. It’s not the Glazers fault if Fergie decides to use it in the wrong areas (a keeper was obviously needed).
Richard – Jones was £16.5m and you’ve also forgotten the £14m United recouped last summer/ January.
Money is available, but United will not be signing players who command £100-150k-a-week. Funnily enough, we don’t have a problem lavishing £20m on a young, unproven talent but we do on a proven player.
I think Kagawa would be a good signing. The stats speak for themselves. He is far better than anything we have at the moment, starts and scores goals regulary for the best team in Germany who play in arguably the second strongest league in world football.
However, as pressing as there is a need for a creative/attacking midfielder, we also desperately need a more defensive midfielder: we allowed far more shots on goal than any of the other top teams.
Javi Martinez would be my choice, but I wouldn’t rule out Tiote.
It would be a shame if we make these improvements to the squad, though, and fail to hold onto Pogba. I think Sir Alex’s conduct throughout the whole affair has been very odd, first claming that he wouldn’t be signing the likes of Sneijder because it would see the likes of Pogba move elsewhere and then lavishing praise on the young lad but inviting Paul Scholes back out of retirement.
Our current CMs: Cleverley, Anderson, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs.
Giggs will play less and less.
Scholes might retire.
Fletcher might retire/ never return to his best.
Cleverley & Anderson are injury prone.
That leaves Carrick as the one CM we can rely on. As we obviously can’t afford to buy three new quality CMs it seems foolish to sell Anderson and I don’t think his sale would fund a better replacement.
We obviously need some new players, but surely we are more in need of 2-3 top talents rather 5-6 ‘squad’ players.
Where are these ‘top talents’ you suggest and who’s to say that we could afford them anyways? We’ve already heard from Hazard on his potential destination.
We have had a few years now to sign some top quality central MFs and chose not to do so while our rivals have strenghtened in that area – Yaya Toure, Silva, Nasri, Mata, VDV, and now Hazard, M’Vila and on and on it goes. Why haven’t we tried to sign any of these players? No, this trend will unfortunately continue and we’ll sink while the others will rise.
I ask you this- doesn’t that tune sound familiar?
Our midfield issues stretch back to 04/05, if not further back, but United haven’t sunk or anywhere near sunk. So I implore you- don’t bow to the frustration deriving from a likely-to-be trophyless season and use empty rhetorics to deal with the pain.
And I share your disbelief in how all of these players were allowed to move to our competitors without a fight. But we need to keep sight of the fact that since Ronaldo and Tevez left in summer 2009 the maximal difference between United and 1st place was 1 point and we appeared in a CL final. Quite clearly, “sinking” is not in Sir Alex’s vocabulary…
My point was better to spend what money we have on a few good players, rather than fill our squad with another 5 Parks. I have no idea who is available or who would want to come (obviously).
I was really just bring to make the point to everyone who said we should sell Anderson that it would be a bad move financially speaking and we can’t afford to replace him as that money is desperately needed to buy players in the same position. As you say, we can barely afford a ‘top’ talent as it is.
And of that list of players, only Toure and M’Vila are the kind of CM we most need. When Toure was sold we were still OK at CM – had a fit Fletch Carrick anderson and a younger scholes giggs. And lets be honest we couldn’t compete with City on wages even if we went for him. On M’Vila, maybe we missed out I don’t know. I’d be surprised if Fergie didn’t have some CMs in mind and if M’Vila was one of them we could definitely have got him – Arsenal have strict wages and fee is reportedly €22 million – even we could manage that. I reckon we did’t want him. I have heard he has some off-field issues which may yet scupper his move to Ars anyway. If he really chose Arsenal over us for the money that would be a new low, but I think its more likely we have other targets in mind.
Carrick in CM is a paper bag useless passé at best fletcher was never better than just a squad player no disrespect to him at least he’s a tryer but nothing more scholes and giggs should retire cleverley is passé overrated and injury prone Ferdinand is past it welbecks 1st touch is terrible and he’s not world class don’t think he ever will be how he’s kept Hernandez out of the team is beyond me no wonder he’s lost form and young plays 1 or 2 good games then he’s poor and ineffective don’t know why he was bought and Evans is also passé need a clear out and need to buy at least 4-5 class players next season shitty will get stronger still Chelsea will vastly improve and if they get pep and spend big oh dear Arsenal will improve the squad and get far better even spurs will improve unless we spend big this summer the leeches release the required funds ferguson stops lying for his cash we are in big big trouble we need to spend at least 100 million in this window and get rid of the deadwood could also do with giving phelan his P45 he’s about as much use has a condom with a hole in it END OF!
Rage against the machine lyrics suit the issues we face perfectly ferguson’s bull for the glazers – NO MORE LIES! gullible stupid fellow United fans who thInk nothings wrong – WAKE UP! getting rid of the glazer leeches – WE’VE GOTTA TAKE THE POWER BACK!!!!
Apparently there will be a big talent drain out of France this year since Hollande won the presidential elections (said he would tax anyone earning over €1 million/year at a 75% rate). So we might see a few transfer requests and maybe some good deals. France has a lot of very good young players but no stars (excluding Hazard). As we’re a club who looks for ‘value’ we might get a couple from there.
Nuri Sahin (CM) has played a handful of games for Madrid this year despite being Dortmund best player last season. Definitely a possible signing. Prob 10-15 mil.
I really hope we don’t sign Javi Martinez. His lack of pace and agility was really shown up in the EL final and we don’t need another utility defender playing CM. We already know that doesn’t work.
Nearly forgot why in Gods name was Owen brought in useless injury prone scouser and this isn’t a joke was he brought into give ferguson racing tips GET RID!
Wasn’t defending anyone. The REALITY is that we have very little money to spend. In the interests of winning I think its best we don’t waste it.
I think Kagawa would be the ‘highest quality’ player we could hope for this summer. In the end, that’s not going to be good enough! No, Fergie will continue to put his faith in our central MF and hope Fletcher comes back the same the player, Scholes and Giggsy can find the fountain of youth, Anderson can stop eating at Burger King, Pogba will stay, and Cleverley will be fit. He’ll need a lot of luck with that lot.
nomoremoney.com
If the Glazers do not invest, this is the beginning of the end for both the club as an entity able to compete successfully and the destruction of ye value of their investment. It is that simple. No half measuree, no value, just raw awesome potential, (Hazard, Muniain), proven quality (Tiote, Martinez, Kagawa) is required.
The last transfer window literally only replaced essential items – I half think Fergie reckoned Jones could be put in CM but his distribution is too gash for that. Young, as good as he can be, was a frankly bizarre and unnecessary purchase.
Unless we expenditure of circa £60m, net, and four bodies in (subject to thise being shipped out) we have gone significantly backward.
Well said finally a spot on response ; )
Just reading the paper this morning and the survey of English clubs account.
Most startling line ‘if it was not for the takeover debts United would have 80 million to spend every season’
David – this is not new, but yes good of Matt Scott to spell it out in black and white. People will still deny the debt has any affect on United’s ability to compete.
The Pogba situation really pisses me off. We clearly need new signings in central midfield, we have a player on our books who potentially could develop to be world class & yet somehow we’ve managed to let him slip through our grasp. No matter how you look at it (he’s greedy, just listening to his agent…) it’s extremely bad management.
If we can’t convince a top player to even stay at the club then this really will be a bad summer.
How is it that a club like Man Utd can’t hold on to its young players??
This season really has been a dissapointment on and off the pitch, and the thought of a summer of cheap buys just makes things worse.
Ed –
Do you know of anywhere that publishes a cumulative total of the money the Glazers have taken out in debt, fees, interest, etc?
Cheers.
sebastiancp1 – andersred.blogspot.com tends to do an update every time the accounts come out. Quarterly. £500m+ at the moment.
Scandalous!
Thanks — do read Andersred and your quarterly analysis and enjoy them both. Was just curious if there was a running total.
When someone says, the Glazers are alright chaps, I don’t get why the conversation doesn’t end with “wouldn’t you like United to have ~£500m more than they do now?”
I know it’s not that simple, but it’s pretty close in my mind.
I wouldn’t even care if the Glazers took money out of the club, as long as we were still functioning without a handicap.
As someone commented above, we would have 80MIL per year to spend on transfers / wage increases. We would only have needed half that to remain at the top.
They are just parasites. And it sickens me that they would willfully enter a market place like sport (United and Tampa Bay) where they can sit in the stand and watch how their selfish actions affect the emotions of the fans.
Am I being melodramatic to suggest they may even get a kick out of it? Or just a realistic appraisal of the majority of business tycoons?
I’m not sure, I would still feel like they were using United as a means to profit personally whether they were taking 10M or 500M. And that’s not right in my mind.
No one should use United as a means to enhance their personal situation at a detriment to the club.
Despite the fact that Clyne is free, I don’t think Another RB is a priority. Assuming we can’t rely on Rio, next season our 1st choice CBs will be Vidic/Evans, leaving £26.5 million Jones/Smalling on the bench most of the time. Young players need games to develop. Letting them fill in at RB is not a bad idea, especially for Jones who does not seem to be ready for being a CB right now.
If Fabio goes on loan, an LB is a much bigger priority.
Agreed. It sounds like a bad fucking joke to be honest.
We have problems at left back, so we buy a right back, we have problems with midfield, so we are strongly linked with a winger etc….
Rafael I suppose is injury prone and Jones clearly can’t play there. But what about Smalling – if Rio, Vidic and Evans are all fit next season, how many games will he get – right back is an ideal secondary position for him to get games. And we always have Valencia who can do a job there.
On Jones, people seemed to love him at the start of the season (when he was playing RB). Since his poor form has started he has been disappointing at RB, CB and CM. So where is he going to play. For me, CM and CB are the core of the team where you need your best players. So the only place to play Jones for now seems to me to be RB.
But why would you put a weaker player there? We have Rafael, Smalling and maybe even Valencia who are stronger in that position.
Long term Jones will be fighting it out with Evans and Smalling for CB places. Nothing wrong with that, we look set in that position for 5-10 years.
This is too much delusion in one post for me to handle, and I’ve only quoted the beginning of it. First off – how do you know we have a £30M budget? We’ve rarely spent close to that in recent transfer windows, and those were after seasons where the club was much more successful on the pitch and therefore more flush with cash. Secondly, no fucking way would we get £25M for Berba, Park, Ando, and Owen. Owen is a free man as far as I know, and his contract would be worth fuck all anyway. Park you’d be lucky to get a couple of million for. Ando is a fucking donkey and permanently injured. Berba is the only one we’d get decent change for, but probably not even that close to £10M because of his age and everybody knows we need to sell him.
Oh and Fletcher’s never coming back, not with any consistency of performance or availability to be worth counting on anyway. It’s sad but true.
We do not want to do what Liverpool have done and have loads of CMs who are all shit. Right now for United, quality is much more important than depth. Getting one good CM who you can rely on to play 40 games/season without getting injured should be our priority.
jones is a centre back, and will be a fucking great one
I agree with that completely, but in the short term – next season where does Jones play. He is our weakest option at CM, 4th choice RB (although I think Valencia is too important for us to be played out of position) and 5th choice CB. He has got to play somewhere.
For now I would trust Smalling much more if we had injuries at CB, he is clearly a last resort at CM, so for me, RB when Raf is injured.
So you’re talking about rotation? Fair enough… though Rio is likely to have more injuries next season, judging by his past (excluding this season), Vidic may not be sharp straight away and Evans might wobble again. Plus, hopefully next season we will be involved in more than just the Premier League! That means there should be plenty more opportunities for squad players and youngsters.
I’m not sure it’s necessary for Jones to play a lot of football anyway. There is an argument to be made that his progress has gone backwards this season by playing out of position and having too much expectation on him.
Wenger’s handling of Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be working. Give him the odd game and cameo where he impresses, but don’t let him become someone to be relied on – that way he won’t fuck up and lose his confidence.
Probably wishes he had done that with Wilshere, Walcott and Ramsey.
That’s true. Think I read somewhere that Jones has played 40 games for us this season. Only Carrick and Evra played more.
We have a good history of developing young talent though. Just hope this lot can stay healthy.
Well… I don’t see how he’s going to be a centre back for United… as it stands… he seems to be 5th choice in Fergies reckoning, behind Rio, Vidic, Evans, and Smalling.
Why buy baines when we already have three left backs…makes no sence and is a waste of money. (evra, fabio and fryers)
However we only have one proper right back, so maybe we need another right back
We have a lot of central midfielders, carrick, scholes, anderson, giggs, cleverly, fletcher, park, and jones. do we need more for the central midfield area.
we have too many strickers too, do we really need more. just play berbatov more often, i think he has been treated very badly
vidic probably won’t be the same player once he’s back
it’ll be jones and smalling by the world cup tops
Where’s he going to play in the mean time?
I think he’ll keep getting tried in the midfield… and if he does start to get to grips with it… that’s where he’ll stay.
Rio is almost done, Evans is having surgery this summer, and we don’t know how Vidic will make out after his lengthy absence. Jones is a CB and I’m tired of Fergie playing him everywhere but there.
Just read that Smalling is out of the Euros with a groin problem – suddenly Jones is our only CB
SAF will be given 100 million to spend on players. The Glazers cannot afford to let Man.City and others buy up all the top players and we end up fighting to finish 4th place in the EPL. The Glazers know that they must spend money to compete and advance in the Champions league. They DO NOT want Man.City dominating football in the EPL. Thats a no-no! They do not want Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham ahead of us as well in the EPL standings. If this was to happen, then we will be in more debt and these Glazers will have to sell the club. They DO NOT want to sell because they feel they can make a fortune if we can win trophies, league titles and Champions league. The Glazers have NO OTHER CHOICE other than to put up the money for players because SAF cannot create miracles with this present squad of players. With this, I rest my case.
Sounds like a nice dream but it’s time to wake up HErbie and get back to reality. What you said will never happen while the Glazers are around.
Herbie
I think your contribution would be more realistic if for every time you wrote “the Glazers” or “they”, you wrote instead “United supporters” until the second last sentence you wrote.That and the last sentence can stay as they are.
Giggs, and Scholes were “almost done”… 5 years ago… and Vidic will be fine.
I wish you’d rest your typing fingers… on a railway line.
I can not believe someone actually wrote that.
Its probably what Fergie is thinking though
We know what United fans WANT this summer…
but would anyone else be happy with Kagawa for the midfield?
Wouldn’t make our midfield brilliant, but if he and Cleverley were to stay fit all next season (big if I know) I would be satisfied with CM to be honest.
I’m happy to have so many squad players in that position as long as we have at least 3 players who are considered reliable first team starters ie: Cleverley, Carrick and Kagawa, as opposed to permanent rotation of fill-ins. This has been part of the problem, on top of the deficit in class.
Plus I’m pretty sure Park won’t be here, Anderson will likely get another 6 months as a final punt and Giggs / Scholes won’t play as much and will therefore be more effective.
Thoughts?
The more I think about it the more I want to overhaul this squad. No more playing people OOP, no more reliance on pensioners, no more bandage approach. Let’s get a quality player for each position in the starting 11 – we have enough squad players and youth on the bench. Enough fuckin around here- time to get serious if we wasn’t to reclaim our title and go far in the CL again. Therefore…
OUT- twins, TK, Owen, Berba, macheda, Park and Anderson. Giggs, Scholes rio and Evra stay but have limited roles.
IN- I don’t care just find quality players. They are out there but it’s just a matter of paying up and sucking it up. We need to get back on track now and not wait another year…again.
I stopped reading when I saw “OUT- twins”.
They are always injured, can’t defend worth shit and barely feature when they are fit. Why keep them?
That would be fine if we stuck with 442, though I don’t think Kagawa would fit into that. I suppose if Fletcher returns to his former self then it would be OK for a 4231 as well.
I think a potential midfield 5 of
Fletcher/Cleverley – Carrick
Valencia – Kagawa – Nani/Young
is quite strong. Depends on everyone staying fit though. I’d be more comfortable if we replaced Scholes for a player who could contribute on a regular basis.
Some possible variations:
———De Gea
Rafael-Smalling-Vidic-Evra
———Carrick
Valencia-Cleverley-Kagawa
———Rooney
——————Welbeck
———-De Gea
Smalling-Rio-Vidic-Evra
Nani-Clev-Scholes-Kagawa-Young
———-Rooney
———-De Gea
Rafael–Rio–Vidic–Evra
—–Carrick-Cleverley
-Valencia–Kagawa–Rooney
———-Welbeck
Kagawa just ain’t enough add 4 more to that or next season is gonna be worse than this WAKE UP!!!!
There are rumors that Sneijder is on Fergie’s list again. Perhaps he should have arrived a year or 2 ago, but if he could regain his form and stay fit- well world class IMO.
Nonsense… Raphael is a cracking rightback… he’s still got a lot to learn, but he’s just a kid… and his brother was always supposedly the better of the two… as far as injuries go… they’ve not been lucky, but that also will have hurt their progress…
I’d rather show a bit more patience with them and spend what little money we’ll have where we really need it.
We currently have a 26 man playing squad (inc. Amos as 3rd ‘keeper). This summer we’ll likely lose Berbatov, Owen and Scholes as well as Fabio who is set to leave on loan. That leaves us with 22 (assuming Park and Anderson stay and Fletcher doesn’t retire) and therefore with three players to buy or promote to the 1st team squad.
Within the club, it’s always possible Fergie could convince Scholes to stay for another year and Macheda returns from loan, though it would be surprising if he wasn’t sold or loaned next season. Fryers looked good this season in his 6 apps, though you’s expect a loan to be the next step.
Makeup of the squad if those 4 leave (and I realise quality and depth are different things):
3 GKs
5 CBs
2 WBs
5 CMs
3 Ws
3 STs
1 Park
If we stick with 442, we need 2 WB a winger and a ST.
If we go to 451, 4231 etc, we need 2 WB a CM and a winger.
I think the ‘winger’ we sign could well be in the silva mould – so more of a playmaker than a valencia. Kagawa looks likely and will be less than €15 million.
For the CM I wouldn’t be surprised to see Scholes return and leave it there. Hopefully he’ll refuse and we’ll sign someone.
All the WB talk has been about Clyne and Baines. Would be surprised if both happened. I think our finances (and the presence of a 1st choice LB) will make Baines too expensive, but that doesn’t mean we’ll sign Clyne just because he’s free. Van der Wiel (Holland/Ajax RB, 24, impressed at WC 2010) is apparently available for €10 million.
Striker: Bebe?
That’s about as realistic as I can be.
rafaels the best fullback at the club by a distance
Anymore than £15/20 mill now is too much… and 200k a week won’t happen either.
I don’t think we need another winger… in an ideal world we’d have a left sided Valencia, but with limited money and 3 wingers at the club it seems a bit decadent even without glazernomics.
And yes, Rafael is a top fullback who will improve every season he is at United. You should be more worried about the possibility of him forcing a move like Pogba than selling him for fucks sake.
I wonder if Ferguson is thinking of playing Evans at left back as he’s done in the past. If he stays back unlike Evra it might not be such a bad idea. Then we can have a more attacking midfield. Depends on how reliable Evans is there I suppose.
Wouldn’t surprise me though. t would save buying a left back when we already have Evra, Fabio and Fryers on the books.
Loads of football formation cunts on here.
What the fuck is going on?
It’s the silly season innit?
All the arm chair know-it-alls come out, to say how United should spend the £150 million the Glazers are going to stump up… and what the best formations to conquer the football universe are.
Fuck… I hate this time of year…
The comment section of transfer rumours probably not the best place to be then.
If you don’t like it, you can git out.
United have put in a bid of 12 million for Ghana central midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah and a bid of 10 million for Everton left back Leighton Baines. Arsenal have now made an offer for Kagawa. SAF needs to be more aggressive in pursuit of players.If he don’t make haste and get his players now, we will be left with a lot of average players to choose from. Bring out the money, NOW! Pogba off to Juventus, Berbatov heading to Borussia Dortmund, and hopefully ageing players like 39 year old Giggs and 37 year old Scholes will be off to retirement. We must also stop signing overrated expensive British players. Phil Jones at 16 million pounds was too expensive. Fergie needs to stop wasting money on average players.
If we can’t get Eden Hazard (which looks to be the case) then I think we have no choice but to bid for Sneijder. I’m certain the fee and wages would be a lot less than last season. It would be a risk but perhaps we need to take it this time so we can get some quality in our MF. We’d just have to hope he stays healthy and can find the world-class form he had a couple of seasons ago.
£150 million?
Thats the silly part of the whole thing. All these football manager speculation. Enough to make me invest in a suicide bomb. I hate this time of the year especially with those cunts holding the purse strings.
Apparently Clyne can play LB as well as RB, so unless we sell Evra, we may not buy another LB (Baines)
Are there any chances of getting Kaka for cheap?
Maybe should offer Park Ji Sung to Madrid in exchange. Korean t-shirt market, etc…
I’ve been looking at the player we’ve bought since the Glazers arrived (7 year sample). We have bought at least 1 PL player per year (12 in total) and have on average spent half (£17 mill) of our yearly (not net) spend of £34 million on PL players.
From the other 4 of the top 5 leagues (Spa, Ita, Fra, Ger) we have only bought 4 players (De Gea, Obertan, Hargreaves, Evra).
We have bought 12 from other leagues (3 from Portugal).
I haven’t included Scholes or Youth transfers in this (ie. Pogba, Possebon etc.), but included Tevez – his 2 yr loan cost 9 million.
Almost all of the transfer rumours on this site are about players from the other top 4 leagues, but Fergie is clearly reluctant to buy from these leagues. Fergie seems to value PL experience very highly so I would be very surprised if he didn’t get 1 or 2 PL players next season.
Just saying, even before all the Glazer shit, Fergie might get 1 from the top 4 leagues, so there’s another reason to forget about Martinez, Kagawa, Hazard etc.
I think there’s a good chance he’ll try and sign Kagawa, but I doubt we’ll see the other big names suggested. Kagawa + Clyne + Powell = a fight for 4th place next season.
From Fergie’s interviews on manutd.com, sounds like Owen will stay, W. Keane will join the squad.
Also: “I don’t think we’ve had a holding player since I’ve been here. We’ve never had a holding player.” and “I’ve not had it for 25 years. Why should I think about it now?”
That’s fine if we attack every game, but if we want to defend like against City, it’s not great. And hasn’t football changed over the last 25 years? But there you go. No Martinez, M’vila or equivalent. To be honest though, this season I thought Carrick was playing as a holding midfielder so maybe Fergie has a different definition.
Here’s the link if anyone wants to read ti:
http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Football-News/2012/May/sir-alex-ferguson-will-not-sign-a-holding-midfielder.aspx
There is enough material in that interview to keep Rant going for years.
Carrick to replace Scholes, “I haven’t seen them over-run” jesus…
Carrick is a top defensive midfielder when he’s in form. He subtly breaks up attacks, slides in occasionally, but can play as well. But he disappeared for 2 years, so United fans are right to be concerned. And what if he gets injured.
And can he replace Scholes… He plays deep enough to pick it up off the defence and play it simple, play long, play it out wide early… but can he play one touch under pressure. No. He’s shite when pressed.
This idea that we’ll sign a centre mid, is based on the the fact that… we all know we need one… or even 2.
But we’ve already got… Scholes,(he’ll be back), Carrick, Cleverly, Anderson, Park, Young, Jones, and Rooney…
That’s plenty of options for Ferguson to fuck about with, and I doubt any of them will leave.
We’ll be “linked” to all sorts… Sneijder, Hazard, Kagawa, etc, etc, etc… and Ferguson won’t discourage the rumours… it’ll keep the fans interested and hopeful… then a couple weeks before the season starts, and the bullshit will start…
And in the end, we’ll sign no one… or… a young prospect no one’s ever heard of.
You are right Alfonso about that one. Yet Fergie is under pressure to spend on quality players, sometimes when I hear him talk, he acts as if there is no need to buy any players and that is disturbing.
I think we’ll buy a full back and a midfielder. Cheap ish. Possibly Deabauchy/Clyne and Kagawa. Berbatov and Owen will leave, and that’s it.
Not expecting much.
But surely this would be suicide and both Gill and SAF know it. Hell even the Glazers wouldn’t be so stupid to just keep the status quo. No, we won’t spend City money this summer but I do think we can bring in the right players for 30-40m pounds. All we can do is hope that the cash is there and that SAF gets it right.
£30/40million???
You’re dreaming.
Now that Scholes has confirmed another season, we won’t be getting a big-name CM. We’ll buy another prospective striker and a full-back, as well as maybe a couple of kids to fill the voids left in the stiffs by the ones that go out on loan.