Some reports this morning have suggested that Bayern Munich have joined United and Real Madrid as a possibility for Antonio Valencia. With United’s bid going in a week ago, the Wigan chairman, Dave Whelan has confirmed that talks will take place within the next week or so, although cannot reveal the identity of the third club.
“All season Real have followed him big style, Manchester United followed him big style and there is another club who have just come in from Europe, who we were unaware of,” said Whelan. “I swore I wouldn’t reveal the identity of the other team because they are frightened of Real or United finding out.”
With nothing but the odd quotes here and there, rumours in the rags, as well as an active imagination, it’s not too hard to imagine that Bayern Munich are the third club interested. They imagine they could lose out on Franck Ribery, regardless of all their fighting talk about not selling him, so are looking for a replacement. They don’t want United and Real Madrid to know they’re in the market for Valencia as that would give the game away that they are prepared to sell Ribery.
First, Ferguson needs to get on to the phone with his ol pal Dave, tell him to tell Real Madrid to do one. Then we need to get on the phone to Bayern Munich and tell them we’ll back off Valencia if they sell us Ribery. Yeh? Or does it not work like that? Hmm.
God, it’s going to be a long summer.
Man Utd News 24/7
Fergie needs to buy Ribery (If Bayern want Valencia), Benzema (Priority), Toulalan (Replace Scholes) and Senna (Brilliant, even at 32)
Simple mathematics! Real Madrid gets Christiano Ronaldo, Bayern picks Anthonio Valencia & Franck Riberry goes to United. Simlpe
What is this bollocks?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/17/manchester-united-transfer-policy
What about offering Nani / Berbatov(legend in germany!!) as part of the Ribery deal?? and just sign Valencia as well. then get Benzema to play up with Rooney?? Buy Senna for holding Midfield and a few from the u21 tournament (ozil ,sissi ,berg,Matic have looked good so far???)
Reports today say that UNited have decided that they won’t spend ridiculous amounts of money on players over 26.So Ribery and Villa are out of the question and rightfully so for me.
Lets get Valencia before his case becomes too messy and then go for Silva. These 2 transfers should leave us with 40 million left to buy a striker and an enforcer.
Scott, don’t know. But this is killing me. I want no one..
@Melvinho7
Yes I saw that, its in various papers. It does seem to make sense especially in recent seasons with Berbatov the obvious exception. Infact, the only other player I can think of who was bought for over 10M and was over the age of 26 was none other than Juan Sebastian Veron…
Answers on a postcard..
The age limit is a good move by the club.Spend 50 million on a 27 year old?You are nevr going to get such a investment back unless he has a season like Ronaldo had in 07-08.
Apparently Ribery doesnt fit into our new buying plan. And whats this talk of selling Berba from people on here? The guy finished 2nd highest assists in the league, by his own admission didn’t have his best season, and still bagged 14 goals. Crazy talk.
ps – that tshirt advert on the right is shit hot Scott. Who needs pants indeed.
I’d rather Ribery than Valencia anyday of the week.
I think we should get Ribery at all cost!! he is the cclosest thing to Ronaldo and Messi out there. Sign him up
I thought that United always had a policy of buying young players (Rooney, Ronald, nani, Rafaels etc) who could be moulded to the United way of playing. Exceptions have only been made when a quality player is felt to fit in. (eg Berbatov). What is new?
Ella
dromarared
You are right we have been buying young players anyway. The same article was written a few months ago and is just to fill space because things are quiet.
About Goddamn time: http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/21752/United_ready_to_pull_plug_on_Tevez_deal_.aspx
Don’t think this transfer restriction means we’re out of the Ribery race – he’s just 26 – but he prefers Spain and Bayern don’t want to sell. Don’t think he’ll come. Benzema, Valencia and a good central midfielder and I’ll be happy.
Though Benzema’s arrival is unlikely, too…
Lyon don’t want to sell Benzema now and why should they?They could sell him for a lot more after a good World Cup performance next summer.
Lyon are being linked with a £17m move for Lisandro Lopez of Porto this morning.
I kind of agree with what I have read about the 26 age limit transfer policy however, if Berbatov was deemed and exception then players like Ribery and Villa should also be.
Am I alone in thinking that we should try to activate the much talked about buy back clause in Giuseppe Rossi’s contract? If Tevez does leave, then he would be a great addition, young enough to not mind sitting on the bench every so often, plenty of pace and energy, we all know what he’s about and what he cam bring to the team.
Plenty cheaper than Villa, Benzema etc.
Has anyone seen his last few games for Italy? He’s been fantastic.
Villareal want 40 million euros for Rossi!!!
Wow! I just assumed that a figure had already been worked out when he left us.
Juventus are after him apparantly and that is what they were quoted!!
benzema and valencia Ok, but what about goalkeeper and left full back. That Ribery says he doesn’t want to play in England and is kind of old
If Manchester United are adopting a policy of not signing players over the age of 25 years old for massive transfer fees then it is a step in the right direction as it will contribute to the survival of the club. Especially since United are £650 million in debt. We must ensure the survival of the club above anything. Regardless of what we think of the Glaziers.
@lidija
Ben Foster and Fabio Da Silva can fill those spots.
Not to mention Kusckak, Heaton, Zieler, O’Shea, Brown, etc etc etc.
Benzema and perhaps Valencia. Let Tevez leave.
Fuck Ribery at that price and go for Valencia. Saw Tosic lst night and he wasn’t brilliant but he showed flashes of excellence.
You got it wrong scott. I think bayern are only scared because if real table a tempting bid, they would want to snatch valencia, leaving us with nothing.
If its only between us and bayern, they would keep ribery and let us have valencia. Why would they sell US ribery and buy valencia themselves???
The summer sure is going to be long and its very boring to be treated to transfer speculations everyday. Meanwhile, I’ve thought of an interesting scenario!
Real is the factor here..They could be planning a pact with bayern for ribery and robbing us. Bayern would sell rib for a tempting offer easily if they were guaranteed valencia. So real offer a lot of money for rib, and bayern in turn offer more for valencia than united. Of course that would be a long shot..but I’m sure Sir Alex will use his influence to turn things around, should that happen..
Nikhil @ 11:38 – what would be so bad about that ? As far as I’m concerned the price for Ribery is ludicrous; Valencia is no better than Nani so I don’t see what the fuss is about with him. Of the other names being talked about, I think that Douglas Costa the Brazilian kid would be a great addition; so would Alexis Sanchez, the Chilean who plays with Udinese. Both of these guys are younger, faster, and much higher up-sides than Ribery or Valencia. And, don’t forget that UTD are supposedly getting the “Serbian Kaka” in Adem Ljajic, who is due to arrive in January. So, just maybe, Nani gets his audition for full-time play when the season starts; or maybe Anderson gets to play his “usual, normal” role as an attacking midfielder.
The big issue for UTD in this transfer window has to do with “re-invention”. TheRonaldoYears – especially the last three – have been exhilirating and exciting but that train has left the station.
What’s coming next will be TheRooneyYears. So ask yourselves, what combination of player/players would help SAF bring the best out of Wayne ? My opinion is that he would flourish – so would Berbatov – behind a big, strong “bulldozer” which is what Capello has done for him with Ingerland. So, it’s not exactly rocket science to see why SAF is so intrigued with Karim Benzema – he ticks all the boxes (big, strong, fast, young, skilful) – and is a more experienced version of Kiko Macheda.
So what if Benzema would be a three-year, rent-a-player ? He could be sold on for a huge fee as – barring injury – he’d be in his prime. So a very large fee of, say, 45/50 million Euros isn’t the same kind of gamble as, say, spending that amount on Franck Ribery who would be 29 in three years’ time; or Carlitos who would want to go back to Buenos Aires in four years and leave on a free transfer. This is, of course, the logic of the “buy young” policy that’s being discussed in the press – it’s exactly what’s been the operating principle for several years. Was nobody looking ?
The two, other places where UTD look suspect – not weak, just suspect – are in central midfield and, especially, goal keeper. I think that the obsession with wingers/4-4-2 is misplaced – the game at the highest level is just not being played that way. Who is a winger for Barcelona ? Who is a winger for Brazil or Italy ? The game has evolved so that the front 3/4 interchange while the central midfielders “sit”, width is provided by the fullbacks – and UTD have two fantastic young talents in the Da Silva twins.
In the CL final – without Fletcherinho and Hargreaves – UTD’s central midfield was found out. Fletcherinho’s absence was a random occurrence; Owen Hargreaves looks like a permanent sick-note so he really cannot be relied upon. If OH were to come back completely from his surgeries (both knees !) then that really would be like a new signing – I’m not holding my breath. Anderson is inconsistent and probably being played out of position as a holding player; Carrick is something of a flat-track bully in that he plays best against teams that allow him time/space. Yet, those two can do the job IF they have someone with Fletcherinho’s energy alongside them. Why doesn’t ThreeLungPark get a game in the middle ? that’s where he played for PSV – I don’t get it.
Anyhow, if a load of money is spent on Benzema then the next order-of-priority would be a midfield monster. Daniele di Rossi is the best out there but he might not be available because he might not want to leave Roma; still…. money talks ? His older, snarling team-mate in the Italy squad, Gennaro Gattuso, would be a fantastic stop-gap signing EVEN IF it would contradict the no-geezer “policy” because the transfer fee would be small even if his wages would be large. Gattuso has the passion of Roy Keane; he’d be a great addition to a team that sometimes seems to lack heart for battle.
In goal, the question is not IF this is going to be VDS’s last season but, rather, what kind of confidence do you have in either Foster or Kuszczak ? In my opinion, neither is up to the task of being the back-stopper for a team with EPL/CL aspirations. Here, again, the best option is likely to be someone whose purchase would flout the no-geezer policy – Gigi Buffon. If not Buffon then ?????? I don’t have a clue since there are a lot of “pretenders” but no “contenders”.
Building the team around Rooney is the best way forward; that means being clear-eyed about how new purchases would fit into that strategy. Buying players because they are “attractive” or “bargain priced” makes no sense – UTD are not looking to compete, SAF is looking to win, the Glazers need to win to keep up with their interest payments. And selling Ronaldo has given SAF 80,000,000 options. An interesting time to be the fly-on-the-wall in his office.
denton – Yes completely agree with De Rossi or Gattuso as either of them are what we are lacking in the middle. Good call though suggesting we try out Three Lung in the middle. He is hardworking, gets stuck in, has endless energy and moreover he is not ideal on the flanks. Rarely gets a decent cross in. Trying him more central would be worth a try and perhaps free up Ando to play on the left. We do however have Tosic and perhaps Nani for the left. When you look at the possibilities of our squad you realise we don’t actually need to bring in 3 or 4 players but just 1 or 2.
why are we going for Ribery? He’s not worth £40 million and now I understand that United transfer policy is that anyone over 26 they will not spend “big money” on. It doesn’t mean they wont go for someone over 26 but they would work on a formula like this:
age > 30 then transfer price age < 30 then transfer price <= 10 – 15 million
age < 26 then transfer price < 15 – 50+ million
how the media reports it is (as usual) only the half truth. SAF can spend money on players over 26 but not the huge sums of money a la RM paid for CR7.
Marco Senna at Villarreal is an excellent example, as he is over 30 but would cost us 5 million.
Another thing is, instead of going for Valencia why don’t we try and get Ashely Young from Aston Villa? He carries a better goal threat and he’s under 26 plus he creates a lot of goals too. I think £20 million for him is a good price and Villa would find it hard to turn an offer like that down.
King Eric @ 12:53: I think that we are on the same page about what we are expecting over the next little while. SAF could bring in several players but I would think that he has very specific targets in mind since he has said that “Ronaldo was always going to go” which can only be interpreted to mean that the contingency plans must have been made a while ago.
The AgeOfRonaldo was in some way a very unusual moment in “team building”. CR was an absolutely incredible talent but not a person who was going to stay at OT for his whole career. So, SAF had a conundrum to resolve – do I exploit this kid to the max, give him a free rein to strut his stuff, and then flog him for a huge profit or do I force him to play in a “team-system”. He chose the first option and now he has to figure out what to do with others – Rooney and Berbatov – whose individual talents were subordinated to funnelling the ball to Ronaldo. Others – Nani, Anderson, and Tevez – were made to play second-fiddle in order to accommodate Ronaldo.
I wrote that I think we are now embarking on TheAgeOfRooney and that whichever forward SAF purchases will be bought with the goal in mind (pun intended !) of enhancing Wayne Rooney’s talents. Berbatov is a supporting player in this scenario and I guess you could argue that Berbatov was bought with Ronaldo’s departure in mind.
My way of thinking is that the 4-4-2 is yesterday’s formation – UTD failed again and again in Europe after the win in Barcelona trying to play this way. So, some version of a 4-3-2-1 or a 4-2-3-1 is going to be the new structure. Neither Rooney nor Berbatov is “the 1″ which leads me to assume that SAF has thought long and hard about who the new “1″ could be.
I don’t see anyone out there who fits the brief better than Benzema – a guy like Heskey could be a stop-gap while Kiko Macheda matures or someone like Pavel Pogrebnyak of CSKA might be a long-shot, considering the amazing success his Russian teamate Arshavin had when he was finally given game-time by TheWhinger. But whether these options can be realized or not, I don’t think that SAF will want to rely on Macheda and/or Welbeck to carry a man’s load – Kiko is just too young and Welbeck isn’t physically mature; both need “seasoning” for at least one or two more years. That’s why I think it would actually be financially prudent to invest in Benzema as a short-term option – he’s still so young that even if he only plays for UTD for, say, three years then he would still be 23/24 when you sell him on. If Benzema can flourish in the UTD team then his value would rise a lot, too. In a way, it’s very much like the stop-gap deal for Tevez who was a valuable, short-term acquisition but who is now surplus-to-requirements for a variety of reasons. With Carlitos, all the money was not paid up-front so UTD never had to sell him on – they can just cry some crocodile tears, wring their hands, and wish him the best of luck.
The urgent matter is to sort out the forward line – the midfield and the keeper can be addressed in a more leisurely manner since there is not the same urgency to make changes in those positions.
@ denton davey
I agree with the majority of yourexcellent analysis, but I’d only disagree with you concerning our midfield.
This is the area that he needs to strenghten and it is very much a priority .
Look at what we have:
Darren Fletcher
Paul Scholes (sub at best, and age is now showing)
Ryan Giggs (can play only bit part as sub or against “weaker teams”)
Michael Carrick
Anderson
Owen Hargreaves (long term injury – back Jan 2010?)
The fact is apart from Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson as our central midfield is light weight. we need some playmakers like Arteta (Everton), Wesley Snijeder from RM and Giovinco of Juventus (currently playing in Sweden for Italy Under 21s) . plus if hargreaves is out until jan, then we need someone with intelligence to act as a defensive midfield destroyer.
i dont want us to sign either ribery or valencia.people talk about “replacing ronaldo” as the only way of us winning the title next year.thats bollocks!we have to adapt and find a new formation/tactics to suit our current roster of players – that is the United way.i agree with denton davey, we do need a “original number 9″ to let rooney wreak havoc on opposing defenses.but we also need some steel/guile/creativity in midfield – i would be over the moon with either de rossi or gattuso! anderson is not a DM.he should be given the freedom to roam forward. however in SAF we trust,so i’m sure he knows all the answers in moving us forward during this new “renaissance”.
Denton — As we all agree, DeRossi would be ideal. But its just not going to happen due to his loyalty to Roma. So, why aren’t we interested in Yaya Toure? I don’t think he would cost an arm and a leg but he is pretty good on the ball and can break up play much better than what we have available right now (Hargo isn’t available at the moment).
Or, I’ll mention this guy again, I was very impressed by Porto’s Fernando in our two CL games against them this year. I admit I’ve only ever seen him play in those two games and don’t know anything else about him, but he was every where and made countless tackles that broke up our play. I would love to hear more about him from someone who maybe has seen more of Porto.
Drew – Yes Fernando was excellent against United.
KVN — I agree with your analysis there up to the point of where you name your suggested replacements!!
Arteta — I think he is just a big fish in a small pond kinda guy. Not good enough for a top 4 side in my opinion.
Sneijder — No thanks on him also. He is a free kick speciliast only and who couldn’t hack it for Real, which I think we can all agree were a very poor side last year.
And Giovinco — I watched about 60 mins of the Italy/Serbia game last night, mostly to see Tosic, and I admit I was impressed by the Italians skill and touch and two footedness…But he is a midget and I think he would get bossed around in the EPL. And he was falling over and rolling around and screaming every time one of the Serbs made contact with him.
Just my opinions of course. I’ve had some of my suggestions get laughed at or just completely ignored, so to each his own I guess….
KE — Thanks dude. Lets get his name out there!!!
Fernando and Benzema then watch us roll!!!!
denton davy i just love your posts mate.
i cant really add to what you have said, i should get on this a bit earlier!!
Drew @ 19:02 – You’re probably right about di Rossi’s loyalty to ASRoma but they’ve got really serious money problems and, if push came to shove, then they’d probably want to keep Totti happy rather than di Rossi even though di Rossi is much younger. Totti is a TRUE legend at Roma.
Also, the Porto guy – Fernando – did play really, really well against UTD in the CL; even better at OT than at home in Porto. I looked him up on SkySports the other day – he’s a 23 year old Brazilian who’s been in Portugal for only a short time. If memory serves, he’s also fairly tall – 1.82 m (whatever that means).
Another name to consider would be Mohamadou Diarra who seems to have lost his way at Madrid and been replaced by “Lassy” Diarra. Two years ago, MD was flavour-of-the-month after he had sucessfully replaced Michael Essien at Lyons and it was his success that ensured a big-money move to TheVirus. If I’m not mistaken, didn’t MD score a really nice goal against TheLads in the CL a few years back ?
Over the past several years, UTD have had great success in selling surplus-to-requirement guys (Beckham, RVN, Heinze) to TheVirus; it would be richly ironic if we could return the favour and take Mohamedou Diarra off their hands for peanuts. Like I said, I think this guy has “lost his way” at Madrid – which wouldn’t be so surprising since in his time there they’ve had four or five different managers. I think he’s in his mid-20s so “resurrection” isn’t out of the question for him as it would be with Arjen Robben who is a terrific talent but a bond fide sick-note.
M Diarra is 28( I think) so would they accept an offer of £8-10 mill. Also he isn’t on massive wages.
Schneijder. Make it happen.
Rc7 – If TheVirus want to sell Mohamadou Diarra then offer one-half of what they ask. No more.
Hey guys what about Ashley Young as he’s a far better player than Valencia
and to add to the wish list what about Nigel Reo-Coker. He could play the holding player role really well and I know SAF was looking at him a while ago.
Both players are under 26 and Young would probably cost £20m and Reo-Coker would probably be aroun £10m if that. then we’d only need to get Benzema with an offer in the region of £50m.
Reo-Coker??? Are you serious, the guy barely gets in the Villa team!
Is anyone else getting concerned that Villa and Ribery will end up at Real Madrid, Benzema will wait another year for a move to Barca or Real and we will really struggle to replace Ronaldo!
I can’t help thinking next season we could end up relying on Berba having a good season which at present is a real hit and miss scenario. We need to replace Ronaldo’s goals which I cant see coming from Berba, Tevez or Valencia.
I think we will have to go all out with an over the top bid for Benzema in the hope he sees us as a good move (which could turn out to be a Ronaldo style stepping stone) or we should go for Aguero because this kid does score goals and is a real threat going forward.
Its times like this I really lament the lack of world class English attacking talent.