Karim Benzema has been a transfer favourite for plenty of reds and certainly has attracted attention from Sir Alex Ferguson over the years. Despite claims that he wanted to stay in France for one more year to remain settled ahead of the World Cup, it was starting to look like Ferguson might finally get his man.
My hesitance for us to sign Benzema arose from his clear favouring of Real Madrid, although with all the cash available from Cristiano Ronaldo’s sale, as well as the departure of Carlos Tevez, I was prepared to come around to the idea. Whilst not usually fond of the big name signings, as they have ‘flop’ written all over them, this summer, more than ever, it feels like we really need to bring a big name in. Benzema seemed to tick all the boxes.
Regardless, it was announced last night that Real Madrid had agreed a deal for our target, and after learning Benzema was “perfectly happy” to come to Old Trafford, I’m sat wondering why he isn’t doing.
Spanish-based journalist Graham Hunter, who broke the Benzema to Real Madrid story on Sky Sports News, has claimed that United had been in talks with the player but weren’t prepared to stump up the cash to meet the Spaniards’ offer.
“My understanding is that Real Madrid have offered £6million more than Manchester United were willing to pay for Benzema and they will be suffering because there is no doubt that in the last 48 hours they have been negotiating not only with Lyon but with the player, and the player was perfectly happy to go to Old Trafford.”
Whilst usually I would be pleased we hadn’t got involved in a transfer war with Real Madrid I’m left distinctly disappointed. We just smashed the world record transfer fee with Ronaldo so surely this summer more than ever we should be spending big?
I suppose there’s always the thought that had we matched their extra £6m, Real would have upped it £10m, and it would have continued until we were left to pay a ridiculously overinflated transfer fee, or would have lost out anyway.
So, with Ribery also crossed out, whose name can we obsessively scan for in the rags now?
Man Utd News 24/7
I also believe that Benzema wasn’t as adamant as Ronaldo and Ribery are about joining Real.For a weird reason we never got too serious about him.I am starting toi feel that with the players we are missing out on, the 80 million might not be worth spending anymore.
How the f*** does Sir Alex keep looking when he knows that next year we wouldn’t have any attacker if rooney or berba get hurt.I think we should buy somebody like marcus berg which nobody had named yet
Forget itLets move on. we will buy someone not much heard of who will become best in the world in 2or 3 years before real come begging again ready to pay 100 million
The 80 million is going straight into the Glazer debt fund
Luis Fabiano and alexis Sanchez and probably a backup for hargo.maybe hertha Berlin player kacar who can play at the back and in defensive midfield
TBH, we were never going to get him…. Real are just throwing too much cash around (that they don’t have) and with the contract on offer – 6 years increasing 25% year on year, you can’t blame the kid for going.
It would have been great to have him in our shirt, he is a huge talent.
Lyon said the following
“A few days ago Karim Benzema informed the club president Jean Michel Aulas of his desire to move to the Madrid club, which had always been his favourite club after Lyon, earlier than he had foreseen”
I would also ad that Lyon already stated that they had a bid, not from Real that was above what Real were reported about to offer.
So while he may have been ok joining us, I can’t help but think that he really wanted to join us for any other reason than a stepping stone to join Real
Scott, Graham Hunter’s ‘understanding from his sources’ contradicts Lyon’s statement:
“A few days ago, Karim Benzema informed president Jean Michel Aulas of his wish to join Madrid, which has always been his preference after Lyon, quicker than it was initially considered. The player wished to seize the opportunity that was offered to him by Real, which was to be one of the major elements of the club’s new, ambitious policy built around some of the largest players in the world. Lyon accepted the decision of Karim Benzema and negotiated the conditions of a transfer which satisfy the various elements.”
Benzema has in the past been quoted to prefer Madrid over United. Lyon’s statement hardly surprised me.
Benzema has always stated he wanted to play in Spain or Italy. I believe had he joined us, he would have eventually done a Ronaldo on us, and forced a move. He is very good as a striker, and would have complemented our attack by giving us speed and an Anelka style ruthless efficiency infront of goal. There were question marks over his character though, being a bit of an enfant terrible, especially in the France camp. I am gutted not more star players haven’t shown more enthousaism to join us, but then again, I have grown up with the regular summer transfer targets deciding to join Italian/Spanish teams instead of us From Ronadhinio to Salas to Batigol. Lets face it, the Latins just dont see United as the be all and end all of club football.
PS I think that Real Madrid are really taking the piss now with their transfer spending. I have calculated that they have spent around £330m on 16 players in the last 3 season. I
I think its shocking. There is no-one else purchasing. I was hoping for both Kaka and Benzema with the Ronaldo money, but we knew what happened there.
Believe me Fergie will regret missing out on Benzema just as he did with Zidane all those years ago.
To AIG : We wont go for Fabiano because he’s over 26, which is a shame. Good call though, as is Alexis Sanchez.
Errrr it is a myth that United wouldn’t cough up! According to the official line coming out of Lyon, this is how things went. Real M had offered 30 million for Benzema and the clubs had agreed a prospective transfer having consulted the player. THEN UNited came in with 35 million offer, and threw a spoke in the transfer wheel. United made the bigger offer, and also talked to the player. Yet the talks with Real M were advanced, and when Real M agreed to meet United’s offer the transfer went ahead. So it was United who tried to GAZZUMP Real M and not the other way around, as the ABU’s would have you believe. That is why Lyon’s president said we have had a very large offer, and it isn’t Madrid. Pisses me off when the British media are so happy to down United with negative comments about how Real M’s bid was bigger, and we wouldn’t meet it. It was the other way around guys. Unless Lyon are lying, and why would they do that?
I too am extremley dissapointed that we didnt get the capture of Benzema, For me he is the type and the class of player to see us through after ronaldo!
hes got good control, fast, Good Finsher,, Reasonable in the air and Can play as striker or on the wing. What more are we looking for?
Now looking at the market and players around, for me there isnt too many other options that i would be extremly excited about!
Looking arround at players who would fit in or improve us that are available all have negatives for me.
Rossi – Would be nice to have him back but i think him and rooney is too small a strike force. My opinion i guess but im sure they would score loads.
Ibrahimivic ( or however spelt) – Aparently costing 60mil + in mid 20s or late 20s. Hasnt really set the world on fire for me! Quite Overated in My book!
Sergio Aguero – Not proven in the Prem, Argentinian, Possibly the one with the least doubts in my eyes.
Fabriano – is 28 plus, Looks the part but quite tempermental. Could he adapt in the prem?..
Ashley Young – I am a fan of ashley young, I think he would do well for United although not a drastic improvement to Nani who can only get better after last seasons abismal performances. I dont have any real doubts about young but maybe villa would want too much… 25+? maybe
Ribery – Wants Real, Im sure they have the pennies in the bank for him as well.
Anyone any other ideas????
Fergie needs to bring in 2 players like Costa & Alexis Sanchez, they will be world stars in a couple of years and won’t moan when they have to sit on the bench ala’ Tevez. Remeber Ronaldo was a one trick pony when he first came to OT. Have trust in Fergie…..
can’t believe utd would let benzema go,we have just sold the best player in the world & now we lose the 1 that could of only helped replace him,real wanted to bid for ribery & leave benzema for us.there going about it the wrong way i hope the players on real tell the manager were to go when there wont get a game anymore after serving the club 10years plus.
aguero is the only 1 now..but i doubt utd will get him if we cant get benzema.aguero will be £50 with his goal rate.now days thats the prices.were left with a big hole & no1 to fill..
can’t utd bid again for benzema…..
From Marca: Real are now focusing on getting the signatures of Arbeloa, Xabi Alonso and David Silva
Aguero,Sanchez and Costa please SAF
anyone think we might grab Bojan from Barca? I know he isn’t a big name yet but I love the way the kid plays and though it might be hard to get him from Barca I think him, Welbeck, Macheda and Pettrucci could be one of the most dangerous attacking forces in a couple of years. Especially with Rooney still pretty young.
Costa?… I have herd that we were interested but dont know much about him.. Whats he like?
Can’t some of you guys understand that United OUTBID Real M, and were talking with Benzema until Real M agreed to meet United’s bid. But Benzema wanted to join Real M. Zidane is his idol, the same with Ribery, and Zidane works with Madrid in recruiting the BEST players from France!
i always for we should of got torres but we didn’t..he would off signed for the club unlike tevez..hes had 2 years to think about utd & he left for money & a few miles across the road..i do not like the bloke for that..every1 would understand if he left abroad but no to man city! true in parts fergie should have played him in the final champions league..we wont make it that far at all with the players we have now..the striker is missing..rooney cant be made to work that hard he needs a partner & i am not talking about 0-0 score sheet berbatov. i heard we aint going to look for a striker again..what a stinker.are we for real.we need 2 more players,velesco or david silva..i would bring in..cause youngster costa..n sanchez dont seem to be..& a striker.i would change the way utd play..every1 got used to us & knew our play & could beat us.barca made us look amatuars the passing.our defence backing off letting them have free shots that the keeper cant stop all of them..we dont get many clear shots on goal..a free kick cause of ronaldos talented feet..& guess what he scores from them..who will ever come in to replace him????? i wonder! the days go on & on its getting worse known bezema is gone
If united got a player because we spent the most money we’d be stuck with tiny tevez
costa is a gd player but its true utd cant pay £21 million when we aint seen him handle the premiership..hes ran past 20year olds in his video clips & score cracking goals..but could he do it again likes of gerrard & lampard
ye i seen benzema meeting with fergie..but y cant he make his own mind up zidane telling him madrid..y not be ronaldo..zidane is a midefielder & benzema is far from it..aguero is the only striker that i have always fort of..1 of the 2 & 1 wont come he wants to stick in spain
I was getting really excited over Benzema. Oh well…
Should we go for Gabriel Agbonglahor? He’s good in the air, very pacey, young…and best of all English which means there are slim chances that he’ll fuck us over for Madrid.
david silva,aguero!! & happy we’d be.ages r perfect..cash avaiable.get rid of it on what we have lost.
@lewis
Costa’s release clause is NOT £21million. Its $21million USD as has been confirmed by his agent. Obviously exchange ranges change but thats between 12.5 and 13.5million pound
We dodged a massive bullet with Benzema. He may be talented, but 35 million for an unproven talent. Sorry, but that’s madness. And what happens after we picked him up, developed him and 4 years later Madrid came calling?
No. I’m glad we didn’t get him.
ano tell me about it a was on sky sports new most days hoping benzema was our player but how things can change is beyound.agbonglahor is good but you cant see utd been intrested in him..villa wouldnt sell i dont think would take 4 weeks to get him all the faf on..y r real siging players on 6 year deals & were offering 3..
we have 2 main strikers if you can call berba 1..& real have 3 to 5 now..whos going to offer him first team?? i wonder who..
cause its utdd for fuk sake zidane!!! lol
well if costa was not 21mil y isnt he our player..utd would have slashed out the 13-14mil for him..the price put fergie off of 21mil theres a few articles saying the same price i just believed it or we’d of had a second player
Id take Silva, Aguero, Toure, maybe Sanchez apart from that id rather stick with the youngsters we already have. Unless SAF and his scouting team have unearthed another brilliant talent who we havnt a clue about.
Its time for SAF and Gill to really impose themselves as a force on the market like Real have done. Money talks so all of the above are getable.
@Gudjohnsen
The problem with going for any English Player playing for an English club is it gets us hit with the English Tax, Rival tax and United Tax. Gabby Agbonglahor but it would be a simerlar situation to trying to get Ashley Young. I could see the two of them costing us 60-70mill combined (In Jan Real enquired about Young and were told £27mill. For us thats over 30mill)
And if you don’t believe me then look at Liverpools new right back and tell me he is worth 18mill. The price is inflated as he is English, he is joining a rival club in the league and Chelsea were interested and hence Chelsea Tax came into play.
most talked about was benzema for all these weeks & after that we haven;t got him..trying to saying david silva in the papers every1 would go mad at valencia & say back off ur unsettling the player..we cant win what ever we do..as much as i’d like to see silva.nah i dont think he’ll ever be here wth torres another player saying dont join us.
sanchez has not been talked about 4 a while..i buy him on fifa & did anderson before he joined us & new all about him & dos santos..but tottenham have wrecked dos santos careers weres he is the reserves
another miss for us…and its the matter of time n money..still stuck in my head how we had been beaten by barca for ronaldinho, we bid him first, but couldnt meet the asking price from PSG..now benzema, we let madrid bid him first although we had scouted him since 2 years ago..is it money issue?idont think so..why cant we spend more money for player who can boost our attackingline such as ronaldinho and benzema?we got money for him..the difference is not that big,,and its clear that SAF manytimes shares his admiration for benzema..anyone can name some possibilities for our new striker, which is young,fast, tall enough, strong,skillfull like benzema?im so disappointed wiv d news..and shame on u madrid, ur history are all bought…
I’m glad we didn’t fork out 30 million plus for this guy. He’s too young to require this transfer wage. Real have completely distorted the market this season for the top players and United shouldn’t get involved in an overheated bidding war. There are lethal options out there – it’s not necessary to sign hyped ‘galacticos’ like Ribery et al. It is not the ethos of spirit of Old Trafford and for every Rooney or Carrick who understand the history of the club and the English game you risk getting a Veron. United should concentrate on developing young talent, signing players who have the potential to develop and contribute heart and soul to the club and who do not have agents concentrating on wages and shirt sales. We should continue to sign players with potential like Valencia – players who do not claim to be a finished article and who come to the club to contribute not sit on their laurels and wallets. We should sign someone who won’t get uppity about occasionally sitting on the bench so we can give Wellbeck and Macheda the chance to develop their talent.
@lewis
He isn’t our player yet as we are negotiating a deal. Gremio want the 13mill upfront. We want to do a deal like we did with Nani/Anderson and pay an initial fee (apparentlt 7mill) and then addons that will take it over his release fee
United actually asked to take him on a 3 week trial so we could evaluate him and then maybe up the initial amount based on that but Gremio rejected that.
We will get him before the start of the season, i’m sure of that. I would guess a total deal of 14mill with something in the 10mill upfront
To Melvinho. u r right dat fabiano is 28 but the problem is we need a striker who will be ready to sit on the bench too.i dnt think huntelaar is bad .real has misused him.aguero will nt want to be on the bench and he is same as rooney.fabiano and Huntelaar are better headers of the ball and will come cheaper while athletico will demand 40mn pus for aguero and he is an argir too.
we should not be looking for a super star striker like agureo or benzema or vila…frm these transfer window till date fergies plan is clear cut…..
he wont be buying strikers for 40 m….he is waiting to get madrid transfer finished..so the prices go down..then the only team that can bid max is manchester and brcelona..
then we can see the actual fergie tactics……come on manu cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaarrrrrrrrrup!!!!!!!!!!!
ye hopefully something to look forward to then wakey,i knew about them turning the trial down & wanted a straight offer,he does look a very talented player.#
were running out of numbers..weres all our best shirt numbers at..
wonder if valencia will get 7.? 32?
19 should be taken off welbeck & given 39..
I have a feeling we will see SAF go for Huntelaar or Fabiano rather than Aguero as they are cheaper but still with a similar if not goal scoring record.
Some reports in Italy are saying this morning that we are going to make our interest in Pato known after missing Benzema. Which is no doubt a load of rubbish! Shame tho.
anyway doing my head in thinking benzemas gone off on socom?
any1 have it add clewo09.
we sold ronaldo and tevez…so no more big wages…..
we have time upto september……we have a hot burning pocket loads of money…..worlds biggest sponsorship……and 80m!!!!frm cr deal..
we have all the time in the world….come on manu…we will dash through the players after madrids shopping……..utd for life
if madrid sign ben then aguero is not chased…
if ribery then no silva…..
we will get eventually aguero …silva/ribery…
probably silva and aguero..
l
Why are we so worried? ronaldo has been replaced with a decent winger who has pl experience.. he doesnt score goals, but he does wht a winger is supposd to do, getting passes on for our forwards… i get the fact nbody is gonna score 40 0dd goals for us, we’re gonna have our forwards sharing the responsibilities sharing ronaldo’s goals… abt replacing tevez, tevez was our 3rd choice striker.. why do we need such a costly replacement for tevez? welbeck, macheda are gud enuf as a 3rd choice..
@vishnu – “he is waiting to get madrid transfer finished..so the prices go down..then the only team that can bid max is manchester and barcelona..”
I think you’re forgetting about Chelsea and Shitty, they have the cash ready…but who wants to go to City when those other teams are after you? Lol…
Devilton – Aaaaah at last, someone who sees astutely. I agree with you about Benzema, you talk sense!
I personally wouldnt like to see us give a penny to Real and sign Huntelaar having seen them take our best player from us and pip us to our probably main transfer target this summer.
I feel absolutely gutted about our transfer policy this summer.
I will always renew my season ticket and support my team whoever is playing for us and will always be grateful to SAF for what he has done for us. He is simply the best.
SAF has worked hard to get us to the top but I can’t believe he is not being given the support to sign the players he wants. The way Madrid work is they go to the player offer him ridiculous amounts of money and then once they have his head turned they offer his club a ridiculous amount of money. How do they get away with it and why is Blatter still complaining about the English spending power. Came on Blatter don’t make it so obvious that you are paid something extra by Madrid too.
I am not saying we should do that all the time. I still think the Utd way is to bring players through the youth team but if we ever want someone we should get him. That also tells our competitors we mean business.
As I said at the beginning I will always support my team but I don’t think we are going to be likely winners in Europe or the league this year. I know I sound greedy as SAF has won us so much but he has got us to fulfil our potential, Manchester United are one of biggest and the best and we should always be challenging.
Don’t read too much into Graham Hunters comments. He usualy talks a load of crap to try and impress us lot over here as if he’s the man in the know in Spain.
I recall during the Ronaldhino saga, waking up to him every morning bullshitting it either on Sky or the radio about how Ronaldhino will be joining United by the end of the day.
I think Lyon knew Benzema wanted to join Real and just got the deal sealed instead of turning it into a bidding war.
Suarez, Silva should do the trick and maybe we should also look at Adebayor, the new challenge might do him good. We should also consider Wesley Schnieder as a short term filler in the midfield department.
Off the topic and maybe for another day. Am i wrong to think Phelan should no longer be involved in our 1st team set up. The mans clueless as he showed slumped in his comfortable chair after the 1st goal in the champion league final. To me he just comes across as a cone carrier and yes man to SAF.
Justice for Heysel – but Ronaldinho WAS going to join us at the end of the day. The deal had been done. Then Kenyon thought he’d try and be a clever twat and it all got fucked up. But he was our player.
It has become very frustrating. We can do nothing but wait and pick up Real’s leftovers.People say we have all the time and all the money in the world. Well there aren’t many good players out there anymore. So i wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t spend most of the 80 million. The Valencia signing was in the cards no matter what happened with Ronaldo.
I know some believe that 35 million for Benzema is a lot because he is unproven. Well that’s the same kind of philosophy that made us miss out on Essien and Ronaldinho.These are the standards of the transfer market right now. If we can’t live up to them, we should be honest about it and lower our goals for next season.
Quite annoyed by this. I know we have to sit tight – in Fergie we trust – but fcuk me!
Every tom, dick and fcuking harry wants to join Real Ma-fcuking-drid.
Get Edin Dzeko!!!! This is the right guy we need upfront to link with Rooney/Berba… can’t say much bout Benzima since he already had his heart at Madrid! Dzeko will fit right into the squad not to mention, we already have the likes of Welbeck who i feel is the Henry… Best Believe that!!! United!!!!
I’m quite distressed and depressed about what’s happening.
We continue to get pushed around in the transfer market – think how we missed out on Ronaldinho, Cech, Robben, Essien, Mikel or were forced to pay over-the-top prices for guys like Carrick, Hargreaves and, incredibly, Berbatov (who is nowhere near the player we thought we were getting). We get bullied into selling the world’s best player. Now we can’t land any of the marquee signings the fans crave, players who can get the pulses racing the way Ronaldo does. Then there’s the apparent mis-handling of the Douglas Costa situation, following hard on the mess of the Tevez deal.
Does no-one at OT realise what message our selling of Ronaldo and our handling of the Tevez situation sends out? What must a young ambitious player like Benzema think when he sees two major world stars being allowed to leave? I find myself wondering whether he would have been as tempted by Real Madrid if Ronny and Carlos were still on our books…
Almost as bad as all this is how apparently unprepared we were. Despite the credit crunch, new money is flooding into football, and – after being on the receiving end of the Abramovich revolution at Chelsea a few years back – we should have foreseen what would happen this summer. We knew City would be spending, and it wouldn’t take a clairvoyant to work out that Real Madrid, having being knocked off their pedestal in Spain and in Europe, would have devised some way of re-establishing themselves.
Not just that, if, as appears increasingly likely, we knew Ronaldo would be leaving this summer – and good luck to him, by the way – why didn’t we have a replacement or replacements in place and bottled up long before the season ended. It’s the difference between being pro-active and reactive: instead of being ahead of the game, we find ourselves playing catch-up.
Worse still, we are running out of options.
We haven’t a cat in hell’s chance of getting Villa, Torres or Ribery (who, like Benzema, are players in the top echelon alongside the likes of Rooney, Ronaldo, Kaka, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta). And Aguero is wanting the kind of money even City would baulk at.
Yes, we landed Valencia, but he is no more than a better-than-average Premier League player who may blossom at OT. He is not a superstar, no matter how we may try to dress things up. And I can’t believe we are even mentioned in the same breath as Hunteelaar, who wasn’t good enough a year ago, has gone backwards since and even got dumped out of the Real Madrid Euro squad. Ibrahimovic, too, was found out when we beat Inter, so he should also be shunned. Vucinic? Not really. We’ve played Roma often enough in the past few years to see for ourselves that he doesn’t have that much to offer. I mean, if any of them were any good, Real Madrid would have been in for them!
Someone, somewhere at OT, needs to explain just what is going on. After all, we fans were pressured this summer into renewing our season tickets, having spent a fortune these past two seasons following our team to the very pinnacle of Europe. That kind of fan investment deserves better treatment than total silence. We need to see that our club is doing all it can to stay at that pinnacle, rather than sitting complacently back and allowing all our rivals overtake us.
what abt PATO? we can surely get him if we splash some money….
he is two footed..pacey…..good physique…a natural finisher…importantly playing in italian than bloody french……..the only hindrence is not madrid but ancellotti..
new rumour”manu trying to bid pato”..any comments
Agbonlahor? No chance, not nearl;y good enough for United.
I would take eveything Graham Hunter says with a pinch of salt, he talks shite.
Do you honestly think Sir Alex has not got summat lined up? There is a huge amount of talent in South America and Europe that we may just not know about – Yet! Fuck these big signings.
Have faith!
we should remember that we have to bring in player that can suit to our system of play..we r no longer playin’wiv one big man striker waitin’ upfront like RvN did some years ago…we play better football after his departure..changing d system would be disaster, hence we need striker who is pacey..huntelaar not d best option for me since his lack of pace and has the same mould as RvN..d ideal players would be david silva/alexis sachez,yaya toure, n aguero..
The loss of Benzema to Real Madrid has really annoyed me.
After just receiving £80 million for Ronaldo we lose out on Benzema over a few million?
The same thing happened when we missed out on Ronaldinho from PSG.
I would have thought that United would have told Real Madrid to back off all United targets as part of the Ronaldo deal. Too much like common sense?!
Scott the Red yes your right at one point he was ours but I still can’t be doing with Hunter thinking he’s in the know lol
In the real world though you can’t blame any player joining Real, they get good lengthy 6 year contracts and chance to play with the worlds best. So fair dues to them. It’s easy for us as Utd fans to think why should a player not want to play for us but given the chance would you seriously consider turning down the opportunity to play alongside the players they’v signed.
As a player it would be hard to turn down the whole package
The feeling i have is simular to when we missed out on Ronaldinho………..
As i remember it, we reached a deal with the PSG Board, the player was in favour to join. Then when the Plebs on the united Board Faxed through an amended Deal! Not the exact deal that was shook on!
Barca came in.. Barca got their man and we lost out! Fair enough we did get ronaldo but that was part luck and on the horizan anyhow! He would have always went to united as part of their partnership deal with Sporting!
Fair enough we cant throw money away we have paid over the odds for certain players over the years!
I dont mind over the top investments in English or British players as they will stay with the club for the majority of their playing carrier! (Rooney, Carrick, Ferdinand spring to mind!) we paid over the top for all but wil get 10 years service out of each! In the end complete bargains!!!
@MKRed: Fat chance of the OT hierarchy explaining anything to the fans. It has never happened and it won’t happen now. I am still waiting explanation from the OT board about why Beckham was sold just for 23million in intstallments(i think) and why they never went higher for Ronaldinho. I am still waiting for them to explain how come Ronaldo was sold after all the talk of him staying until 2012. Not to mention the virus comment.
I think that fans are taken too much for granted.
perfectly happy doesnt mean he wants to join us. Ronaldo was happy at United until he saw his dream come true with the Real deal, too good to refuse. Same here with Benzema who declared more than once his childhood dream is to play for Real.
I prefer we go for someone who isnt such a big name as all these big names have hyper-inflated price tags. Age is surely a concern as well. I dont want to sign players like Fabiano who is in their late 20s and wont play for us for long.
Pato (if we can), Aguero or the top scorer of Ligue 1 (ahead of Benzema) Gignac are all possibilities.
But more importantly we need midfield players. A playmaker and one more winger.
Wat does every1 fink about defo and young wiv the 6+5 rule coming in2 effect soon maybe we should start buying english.
We can still go for:
Luis Fabiano or Pato, one is 27 the other is just 19 and a great player already;
Alexis Sanchez;
Douglas Costa, go crazy maybe he’s the next Ronaldinho, and we already missed that type of player once;
Sneijder for a fair price?
I would be happy with some of those, not Benzema happy, but satisfied.
It really seems we r being gazzumped by a combination of over-inflated transfer price, real’s artificially boosted spending power and all the flair players’ propensity to play in a more forgiving league for their style (and who can blame them? No one wanna look bad, especially in a World Cup year)
Personally I think we should just bank the money for this year, give chances to kids and hope that Real will go down in flame next season given their ego-stoked dressing room and Barca’s more team oriented play. Maybe we can pick over their carcasses at a more realistic transfer price next season. In the meantime I think we can still challenge for EPL tho CL will probably be a write-off. But it will be an instructive experience for the coming generation.
What about Tuncay Sanli for 5m? This would leave enough money to get Ashley Young and some other midfielder too. Not to mention that it wouldn’t be bad thing to save some for Jan and or paying the debts..
I know Tuncay is not a real world beater, but his attitude is second to none, he wouldn’t complain being a third choice striker, and he has more than enough tricks in his back pocket.
take adebayor, please!
All this paper talk and variance in stories, I never know what to believe. Either way I’m not overly gutted about him not signing, it was a lot of money but I think we can definetly find some alternatives. Guarantee Fergie will have some players in mind, wouldn’t suprise me if we still sign Costa although I read a story the other day saying he’d done ligament damage (just from 1 dodgy looking site). Costa, CM and a striker and I’d be happy.
Shame we couldn’t land Benzema but I hope to hell that Fergie has some other players up his sleeve because we look distinctly lightweight with Ronaldo and Tevez gone.
I’m praying that we buy a top striker and a midfielder of real quality because as Barca proved; our midfield is OK against the lesser lights of the Premiership but against top opposition we dont have near enough quality in there. Will Hargreaves make it back? Who knows and its not worth the gamble so get somebody in quick FFS!
@apathetic gunner: I love your desperation! Has he got this bad? I will say this. If he has his head screwed on straight, he can make a good combination with Rooney. He can also be a target man we have been lacking for a while. But i doubt Arsen would ever sell him to us. I think he just had a bad season. He might come good again.
Douglas Costa! ‘Nuff said!
There’s still plenty of players out there, we just ave to trust fergie and gill to bring in the rite players.
Get Huntelaar and Aguero, because at least they aren’t going to go on about wanting to play for Madrid.
I think it is more likely that Lyon and Benzema’s Agent were using Utd to drive up the price. It seems clear that Benzema personally favored Real.
MKRed – How are we falling behind our rivals? Who have the Rentboys and Arsenal signed yet? The dippers have Glenn Johnson but are sure to lose Alonso and/or Mascherano.
I can’t believe that after all these years,people don’t have faith in Sir Alex and his dealings in the transfer market.
What I meant to say is,we know only these superstars and want only them.The club has a scouting system which is second to none.They may have found a genius kid that we’ve never heard of.
In Sir Alex(And Rafa) We Trust
Well said MKRed. Our transfer policy has been an utter shambles so far. We’ve sat idly by whilst the likes of Real have started to make some serious moves in the transfer market. I think we’ve gotten complacent and, by we, I really mean Fergie. All this talk about having the best squad we ever had is a load of fluff. Look how well we’ll do next season without the man who scored most of our goals – Ronaldo. Where else will the goals come from?
Of course, we should applaud his achievements and the number of times he has built and rebuilt our squad – but let’s be honest, Fergie has occasionally flattered to deceive when it has come to signing players. I’m gutted we failed to land Essien – that man would have been a United legend. Instead we ended up with an £18m sicknote in Hargreaves. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry with that one.
Fergie knew for at least a year that Ronnie was going (and possibly Carlos) yet all we seem to do is run around like headless chickens after every big name the tabloids links us with.
It’s not a knock on SAF Boogeyman. Realistically, we are running out of options and we are repeating the mistakes of the summer of 2003. I don’t know if we have fallen behind our rivals, but we have been weakened more than them and that could balance things out.
King Eric, our rivals may not have purchased many (if any) players but they haven’t gone and got rid of their best players. All this talk about Mascherano and Alonso is paper talk. Believe it when it happens.
@mkl
Yeah i forgot about Tuncay, He certainly has the skills to fit in. Although he is still simular to Rooney, Anderson, Scholes, Giggs. Dont get me wrong i know Giggs and Scholes are in their final years if not season but Fergie will still play the, and they still can do a job!
Bargain at 5mil!
The Guardian claims that we are monitoring Michael Owen’s situation.
Michael Owen?….. Id rather pull on my boots and play myself!
I dont get it with Owen, for me all he ever had was his pace & Finishing.
Now he doesnt have the pace he isnt getting into the same scoring situations and lacks confidence!!
Add to that the fact he will never stay fit enough for the full season, we might as well sign kerion Dyer and Bring Darren Anderton out of Retirment!
owen, no way overated injury prone nuff said.
Lads,
If Liverpool and Chelsea dont sell any players, and we dont replace tevez or Ronaldo then we can kiss good bye to the premier league next season!
If we hadnt have had ronaldo last season The Pool would have pipped us!
Lets face it, they are a solid side, Have one of the worlds best Strikers (Torres) and if they had have kept him and gerrard fit during the whole season i recon they would have won the league. Thank fuck they didnt!
jesus christ not Michael Owen!! things are surely not that desperate.
why would you go 4 him?
he is the only young gun striker out that is able to be transferred.
big mistake i rkn.
but then again….WE TRUST IN FERGIE..he has deliverd and WILL deliver
Michael Owen is monitored by Olympiacos too. I think that’s where he belongs nowdays.
last season the top three were fairly close the only difference in the teams was we had vmore match winners , pool had SG and FT , chelsea had DD and FL and ME two of which didnt play most of the season nd we had WR , CR , CT , MC two of which are gone and mike finished poorly last season
@irishred#1:You forgot another matchwinner:DB9.
@theboogeyman yeah and you forgot to mention John Oshea
We pissed about too long over Benzema, we should have put the bid in earlier But that’s bye the bye now and fuck all those other tossers who don’t want to come to Manchester because of the weather. We’re about FOOTBALL not fucking sunbathing!
I think we should go for Huntelaar who has had a bad time at Real and is now certainly surplus to requirements. He will be fine in the Premiership – and won’t cost the earth. Fabiano or Aguero as well, probably Fabiano as he’ll be cheaper but I’m uncertain about him – he reminds me of Manucho…
Let’s not panic it’s still early summer, we didn’t get Berbatov until the final day last year so there are still weeks to go (although it would be nice to get things over and done with whoever we buy)
id rather have obafemi martins than owen..at least hes pacey..may be wiv better teammate could help him find his best..n would be cheap i think..
Id take defo ova owen any day of the week
How in hell did I forget John O’Shea??Lethal striker!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM89o72vMM get him! 23years 11/15million
come on guys! we’re MAN UTD! We don’t buy world class players..WE BUILD THEM!! We’ll be fine!
@theboogeyman
Stay with it, we are talking match winners! not Strikers!
lol…I love O’Shea!!SCOUSEBUSTER!
Here’s Lyon’s official statement:
“A few days ago, Karim Benzema informed president Jean Michel Aulas of his wish to join Madrid, which has always been his preference after Lyon, quicker than it was initially considered. The player wished to seize the opportunity that was offered to him by Real, which was to be one of the major elements of the club’s new, ambitious policy built around some of the largest players in the world. Lyon accepted the decision of Karim Benzema and negotiated the conditions of a transfer which satisfy the various elements. [...]“
FYI : @scott: This is the true reason and BTW we were the ones who offred 6 mil more tham madrid…….
I don’t really agree with us buying a big name striker.
It’s been difficult enough fitting in three this last year – Berbatov and Rooney are our main guys and we just need some experienced cover (like Huntelaar – or even Owen!). I don’t think Benzema, Villa, Aguero would make things fit any better.
I think Huntelaar would do a job for us. People slag him off saying he’s a flop at Madrid, but they’ve not played him and he got bought by one coach and then dropped by the incoming one. We need a Solskjaer type striker and I think he’d do it. If we needed a top name front man then no, he wouldn’t be the man – but we don’t.
If we’d got Benzema, exactly what kind of formation did people expect us to play? You can’t have a +£30m striker on the bench every week – that’s no good to anyone.
DOUGLAS COSTA!
It seems that some people just jump on a bandwagon of players without actually seeing them play. one player who Utd fans seem to jump onboard is Hunterlaar, a player who is not fluisd enough for United. Hunterlaar does most his work in the box, lacks pace and lacks an ability to bring in other players. If you want that type of player, you may as well sign Michael Own on a free transfer.
Another is Douglas Costa, a player who has played 16 games for his club In Brazil. Whilst he might have talent, its very unproven. Definately aplayer to keep an eye on, but not a £20 million player and not someone who we could rely on at Old Trafford come August.
Rooney and Berbatov will give us a great front pairing, we have bought in Valencia who will add to the service these two get and put a lot of work in away fro the pen area, freeing up Rooney more.
I wouldnt be suprised if we dont bring in a big name forward. Benzema was the chouice and Utd have either been caught on the hop by Real madrid or not wanting to get into a bidding war.
Macheda has potential, Welbeck is raw, but bioth will get more games this season. Dont rule ot Own coming in on a free transfer to add experience at little outlay.
If the player you want isnt out there, why spend for spenings sake.
Would be ore beneficial to bring in a creative midfielder who scores goals, a play such as Valencias Silva. We dont need Ribbery as he is over rated and over priced.
Good Lord I live across the pond so i don’t get to sit in a bar and discuss all of this but damn is here like a huge memory lapse going on or something. All this doom and gloom, we sold ronaldo because he wanted to leave,we didn’t get kaka or benzema because real might as well be playing with monopoly money being a government sponsored team. So because of that SAF and the office guys don’t have a clue of what they are doing what? Do you not remember we won the league 3 times in arow, went to 2 cl finals in a row,world club champs,etc. but we know better than them what united need. Imo i don’t think this galactico era will work any better than the last, there is still only 1 ball on the field at a time and with all those whiny bitches in 1 squad it won’t be long til it all goes titties up. Trust in SAF
I don’t think manuel pellegrini has the balls to get all of the egos at madrid under control. Within a year they will be looking at Rijkaard, but by then it will be too late. And after that they will hope that Zidane will be their saviour (coach), but by then there will be a mass exodus of players.
If Berbatov starts playing like a forward and not a midfielder we should be fine upfront. The young lads (Mecheda and Wellbeck) need playing time.
He said last year that he prefered madrid to anywhere else, and Zidane has always told him to go there so its hardly suprising he did. great player but he would of just caused another ronaldo situation in a few years time.
My only worry is how slow we are at getting players, we hardly ever put in proper bids i mean how long did we know Hargreaves was on his way, it took forever to get him here same goes for Berbatov, and even Valencia took longer than it should.
I have alot of faith in our youth, so if we dont sign someone it wont be the end of the world, but if we truly are trying to sign these players we are definatly not doing it quick enough.
I think we should go and surprise everyone, nick tim rodwell from everton, pick up scott parker for midfield, snap up micheal owen on a free (he is not finished yet, just de-spirited at newcastle). I went to pompey this season to watch the geordies and micheal owen bossed the show he was superb. United can get him fit, 65 k a week and no transfer fee. he will be happy to be a squad player. That would be 3 english proven players. Defensive cover, midfield battler and a proven if at the moment unfit striker. Snap up huntellar and give nani more games. Valencia will be a hit. We dont need massive change we have a great squad, some freshening up is whats required. Trust in the Wizard , fergie has NEVER let us down yet. Give welbeck and macheda more games, they will mature in good players.Plus in my opinion bring in Jaap Stam as SAF’s assistant from his scouting role in South America. Fergie will still have a sizeable pot for late august should he need a snap buy
why no one is mentioning PEDOLSKI…??????????????????
where is he now…one of the most gifted…power hourse..winger..back up striker………
sometimes it is easy to overlook what solutions lie just around the corner.
It’s obvious that scouring the world won’t give us close to what we needed in Benzema.
Now consider this. Arsenal needs money. They can’t afford a big buy.
They have Arshavin.
We toss 35 mill their way. We have a top 10 class striker and nobody will talk too much about Benzema after.
Berba at totten was the main striker…but 2008 manu he wasnt bcoz of ronaldo dominance..he acted like a play maker………
But SAF will make berba as the main striker who with sexy playing style and with the best first touch in the world……he can be easily compared to torres…just check his tottenam goals!!!!!Berba will rule…
manu for life!!!!!@@@@@@#########
Its now clear SAF wont buy super star srtikers…..he will just try to buy back up striker….to compete barca try bolstering midfield.///
EDIN DZEKO HAS GOT TO BE SERIOUSLY LOOKED AT.
SCORED 26 GOALS IN 32 GAMES LAST SEASON HELPIN WOLFSBURG WIN THE BUNDESLIGA.
HES ALSO THE TOP GOALSCORER IN EUROPEAN WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS WITH 7 GOALS IN 6 GAMES FOR BOSNIA.
AND HES ONLY 23 YEARS OLD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxxH1HcCysk&feature=fvst
@Radio Deadon
How do you know how long we waited. All we know is we put in a Bid, we even spoke to the player but we have no idea of when talks started.And lets be honest we knew all along that he was waiting for a firm offer from Real that Lyon would accept. He has been saying it for the past two seasons that he has been on our radar. The only way imho he would have signed for us no matter when we put the bid in was if the Villa deal hadn’t fallen through. If that had gone through then he would have maybe signed any deal we offered him but while real were still a possibility he was never going to sign a pre contract. Even if Villa had gone through Benzema would have been off next summer or next when Real came calling
@King George the Switzer
The problem with Huntelaar is that he hasn’t done great for Real. His record in Holland is useless as an indicator as the leagues weak (Alfonso Alvez and Kezmen anyone) and personally I wonder if he screwed his own career over by taking so long to leave Holland. He needed to continue his education by playing regularly in a better league (Even his International games have largely been against weaker nations) yet he will be 26 in August, the point where a player should be entering his peak and all he has to show is a few months in spain playing a limited amount of football. And he seems like he wants to stay at Real despite having almost zero chance of getting games and being told he isnt wanted. He would surely have to be really cheap to make it worthwhile
Fuck Zidane and fuck perez and we will fuck madrid too, buy whoever you want to but you will get fucked by the mighty MANCHESTER UNITED
“the sky is not falling..but just some stars to madrid city”……
trust in SAf..manu for life
Douglas Costa has picked up an ankle ligament injury so not sure I’d be willing to gamble the money on him , especially with our track record with brazilians!
I’d definitely go for David Silva, its about time we replaced Ryan Giggs the left winger and he can play up front and midfield too.
Don’t understand all the negativity towards Michael Owen. Sure he’s had injury problems in recent seasons, I’d be willing to bet at least some of them were due to the fitness/medical staff at Newcastle. He still managed to score 8 premiership goals last season playing for an awful side that got relegated. If anyone could pull off a Cantona-esque shock deal for Owen it is SAF.
@Tufty
Seriously people need to listen to Costa’s Agent. The release fee in the contract is 21 Million US Dollars. . Thats the 13 million pounds range. If we can get a package put together of say 8-10mill upfront and then top ups to take it to the 14mill mark it will be a good investment for the future. We could even maybe let him stay in Brazil for a bit like we are letting Laijic stay in Serbia for a year
Would love to have podolski in the team as a left winger. He’s fast , intelligent , can support counter attacks and has a thunderous left foot.
Whine, whine, whine, b*tch, b*tch, b*tch. Its just the SECOND day of the transfer window and everyone’s acting like deadline day’s tomorrow. Options are looking limited, but thats why SAF is the manager, he might have noticed other players we haven’t. I don’t see what’s the obsession with big name strikers, can anyone answer this: WHEN WE BUY A BIG NAME STRIKER, AREN’T WE BACK TO SQUARE ONE LIKE WITH TEVEZ? HOW DO WE KEEP THEM ALL HAPPY OR DO WE START SHUNTING ROONEY TO THE WINGS AGAIN OR DO WE DROP BERBATOV?
Real Madrid have an unlimited budget and we don’t so they’ll always outbid us, this won’t be the last, so no use crying about it.
How much do we know about COSTA? Last I heard, he couldn’t even get into the Gremio first team. Plus unlike Ronaldo, Anderson, Nani where there were many clubs in for him, so far it looks like we’re the only ones interested, that’s saying something.
Our no. 1 priority should be an out and out left winger allowing Rooney to play more central. Tosic is the natural choice but he’s still pretty raw having seen the reserves. Sanchez has been touted but again, a raw talent. There’s very little out there in the world-class bracket so I suspect we’ll end up waiting until January.
You guys don’t get it do you.
Real will not live up to expectation this season – all their prima donnas will have such big chips on shoulders they will never get on as a team.
They will probably have another big change at the top.
Their new bank-roller wlll bid 120 million for the next world no. 1 kid on the block from OT – Macheda.
United will be playing a second kit of yellow and blue with a squad largely made up of U-19 Brazilian whizzes who only Fergie knows about at moment.
We will have stuffed Barcelona 5-0 at Bernabau Euro final after Real slump out of Champs League first round.
Ronaldo will be begging to come back within 18 months.
Tevez and his agent with be screwing up whichever dumb club they happen to be involved with.
Fergie will be sticking two arthritic fingers up at all of us.
Oh, and the Glazers will have made 1.9 billion on the sale of United to the Chief Exec of the Pig-flu vaccination company, bankrolled by none other than G.Brown and all us taxpayers.
Can we just force Ole to come out of retirement?
We’re in for Michael Owen ? Good enough for Hull so good enough for Manchester United ?
WTF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM89o72vMM get him! 23years 11/15million
I am more likely to believe that the Glaziers didn’t want to spend the money than SAF…Listening to his quotes wishing ronaldo well yesterday i get the impression the sale might have been done by the Glaziers too! A large chunk of the clubs debt has to be paid of sooner or later or the interest will keep rising!
The Glazer-inflicted debt is a sinister backdrop to this sickening close season. After 3 years of Champions League finals/Champions League semis, FA Cup final/semis, Carling Cup finals, and successive Premier Titles, and all-time record earnings, our debt level has gone up not down.
So giving the Ronaldo money to the debt would make short term sense for the Americans, but medium-to-long term it’s a fatal policy as the lack of success a chronically diluted squad will attain will result in seriously reduced earnings.
The Leeds scenario comes to mind.
@OTRed
The difference with Anderson, Ronaldo and Nani was that they were playing in Europe. South American Scouting Networks for many clubs aren’t that great especially for English clubs, alot of the big South American players in Europe have often come through a smaller club and who were either recommended by a player or staff member from that area or from the Videos Agents will often send out.
Clubs are starting to really look at South America though as their young players have fantastic natural ability and United are at the forefront in that, certainly they are number 1 in England if not Europe.
As for Costa, we pretty much had Stam out there specifically watching him and Dodo. Dodo is signed and will join when he turns 18 (Feb 2010 they are reporting), I really do expect Costa to follow him. We aren’t the only team linked to him though Barca and Real have both watched him but supposedly he favours us.
As for not playing in the first team. The Twins never made a first team appearance. For all their silky skills the Brazilian league is pretty physical, perhaps not the ideal league to play youngsters in week in week out. He has made 12 appearances though and played well in many of those by all accounts. In the first game that Stam saw he was apparently the best player on the pitch by far
Really hope the upcoming Global warming will make Manchester hotter than fucking Madrid.
Extremely gutted and disappointed,thougt Benzema would come to OT and be our new King…he was the only available scoring Machine and somehow he deciced to go to fucking madrid .
Michael Owen to Man utd first i thought oh shit but the more i think of it it could be a cracking piece of business on pay as you play. It’s world cup year and owen will be desperate to prove everyone wrong and get to South Africa. He would be a great impact sub and would not dampen morale as he would not expect to play every game due to fitness. He scored more goals than tevez last year in a team that was relegated. If he came good it would wind up the dippers and it would soften the blow should he go on to break sir Bobby’s England record
Here are some names that are in the background who might be good attacking signings:
1 – Edin Dzenko, 23, who has already rejected Arsenal so he can’t be all bad, has scored 34 goals in 60 matches over 2 seasons at Wolfsburg. Chelsea are reportedly interested, so we could face some competition for him, but I reckon Fergie is up for a bidding war at this point, though he’s never been one to either be baited or bullied. Dzenko, for his part, notched 26 goals and 6 assists last season across 32 total appearances, 3 off the bench. 60 of his 132 total shots hit on frame (45%), which equals 1 goal for every 2.3 times he hits the frame. Not bad, but he was recently quoted as saying he’s totally committed to Wolfsburg, as they prepare to enter the Champions League on the crest of their first ever Bundesliga title. Maybe we’ll test both his resolve along with that of their coffers, or maybe not. At 5’11” and 176 pounds, one could say he’ll come basically pre-built for the Premiership’s rigors, as well.
2 – Andre-Pierre Gignac, 23, has scored 26 goals in 65 matches for Toulouse, which isn’t immense, but he does seem to score his goals from a variety of angles/distances with a variety of foot surfaces, often first time as well. Playing for Toulouse, one who doesn’t watch them regularly is prompted to wonder about the amount of quality chances that are created for him, and if that explains his goal tally. Well, in Ligue 1 last season he took 160 total shots with 71 hitting frame (44%). Across his 37 starts and 1 sub appearance last season those numbers average to 4.4 shots per match, two of those finding the target. That means Gignac scores 1 goal for every 2.9 times he strikes the ball on goal. As a comparison, last season in the league, 57 of Ronaldo’s 181 shots were on goal. Ronaldo made 33 total appearances last season, two as a sub, for a total of 5.5 shots per match, 3.2 of which were on frame. This means Ronny scored 1 goal for every 3.1 shots he put on frame in the league last season. In this case, 2.9 > 3.1, perhaps yes, but the quality of opposition must be brought into consideration. Gignac, like Ronny as well, also takes free-kicks for Toulouse, which is a plus, and I’ve seen him score a couple of stunners. He’s about 6’2″, super big frame, weighs about 182 pounds, and looks kinda fat actually, but I would be less concerned about that considering the quality of fitness knowledge and training levels is top shelf at United. This in mind, 2008-2009 was Gignac’s break-out season. He scored 24 of the aforementioned 26 goals hit net last season, and that notion must raise concerns over his long-run ability to display consistency in front of goal. The new Michael Ricketts is the last player we want or need, especially right now.
3 – In 2009 Keirrison has already scored 18 goals in 20 matches for Palmeiras. Crucial in Cortiba’s 2007 leap out of Brasil’s serie B, he was quick to impact Brasil’s top flight in 2008, scoring 41 goals in 58 appearances. His total of 89 goals in 159 career appearances is also impressive. He’s 25 years-old, though, and his career only really spans four professional seasons, three with Cortiba, two of which were in Serie B, during one of which he was a non-presence, and just the one with Palmeiras. A host of European clubs are thought to be tracking him, as well, but all are apparently hesitant to bite. Why are they hesitant…oh to be a professional scout.
4 – In 2004 Nilmar transferred to Lyon for 5 million pounds and was a near immediate bust, but life at Internacional, back in Brazil, has gone well over the past two seasons to present. In 2008-2009 he made 41 appearances, all starts save one, and scored 19 goals. He’s scored a further 14 goals in 19 matches, all starts but one, so far in 2009. Even more impressive is his accuracy. Nilmar has taken 40 shots in the last two seasons and, incredibly, 38 of those shots have hit the target. Those 38 shots on goal have resulted in the 33 goals outlined above, obviously, and this fact, somewhat less obviously, means that the keepers of Brazil’s Serie A, on average, can only manage to save 1 out of every 7.6 of Nilmar’s shot on goal. How many chances did Andy Cole need to score a goal?! Christ, Cole is one of my all-time favorites, but I think we could do with a ruthless, natural finisher like Nilmar. Furthermore, at 5’11’’ and 154 pounds, he possesses the foundations of a Premiership build (compare to Douglas Costa later). All of this in mind, contact with Internacional would surprise many probably, as any serious bid from him would necessarily and generally be perceived as a holding a high risk to potential ratio. Fergie could decide that Nilmar, now 24 years-old, won’t possess a vast enough possess capacity for development to warrant his 20 million pound price tag. Two years older but four million cheaper than Benzema, let’s just hope our criteria for transfers hasn’t slipped to such a level because, as is the custom with South Americans, most will have serious question about how he’ll translate his playing style into the break-neck of the Premiership. Those queries standing, his numbers are compelling and exciting.
4 – The 6’1″, 23 year-old Yoann Gorcuff could also prove a nice addition. I actually liken him to an attacking midfield version of Berba, but I rate him as having more pace and work ethic, though I rate Berba as having more of both than most people would probably give him credit for possessing. After stagnating during his stint at AC Milan, which saw him make just 36 appearances from 2006-2009, Gorcuff revitalized his career while on-loan last season at Brodeaux, as most will know. While on his way to winning Ligue 1 Player of the Season, he scored 12 goals in 37 matches, all of which helped his side dethrone 7-time reigning champs Lyon, as most will know. This prompted Bordeaux to splash 15 million Euros at Milan for the rights to hand Gorcuff a 4 year deal. That’s about what we paid for Ronaldo when he was 17, as most will also know. Yes, this would make it tough for us to sign him, as he’s their box office and wouldn’t come cheap; however, former Red and current Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc might be more amiable in negotiations than other managers if we do kick in a bid, especially as he’s admitted he still carries affections for us and finds his name on the long end of the short list of those who could follow Fergie.
5 – Much talk has passed about the young attacking mid Douglas Costa. As we’ve supposedly lost out on so much recently, I’d say we’re probably more liking now than ever before to dole out the extortion-like fee Gremio are demanding. Every cent will be spent without a our requested three-week trial as well, which does suggest that we were already seriously pondering spending the 20 million pounds they’re asking at some time before we finally lost out on Benzema. He, it would seem, is a bright bleep on Fergie’s radar, no doubt. This in mind, most reports coming out of Brazil that I’ve read tend to focus on the inconsistency that marks the spaces between his moments of brilliance. Some seem to believe that, right now anyway, more spaces than moments fill his game. I watched him, like so many real scouts and fans did, during the most recent South American U-20 tournament. I can only agree with the following excerpt from Neil Jones’ excellent article on SoccerLens, entitled “Beware! Manchester United set to go Brazilian,” in which he writes: “The BBC’s South American expert, Tim Vickery, is certainly a fan, but voiced words of caution when reviewing his performance at the South American Under-20 Championship in February, saying ‘He had an uneven tournament, initially losing his place in the side and inconsistent even after winning it back. At present he is a player for moments rather than matches- but the moments are of remarkable talent’.” He did score 3 goals in 7 appearances, two as a sub, in that tournament though. He only took three shots, by the way. In truth, Costa is a hard player for me to wonder about because it’s really hard to see him play. Gremio aren’t on the TV every week, and he’s only made 10 starts and 12 substitute appearances across his two seasons at the club anyway. He’s hardly indispensible to them, hence my extortion conviction regarding their asking price. Who knows, for Gremio perhaps he holds the same promise as Rooney did at that age for Everton. We all know what we paid for Rooney, just as we all know that Rooney is priceless, already our emblem, his term as captain closing in. This 18 year-old Costa however is only about 5’7” and 139 pounds, which is about Rooney’s height but certainly not his weight on signing day, and definitely not the equal measure of the Premiership’s stout archetype of the body-size necessary for real season long physical durability. Though we may never know, once at Manchester United he would need to be considered a player for the future, one for two or three years from now, and perhaps not the immediate Manchester United, which is now being perceived as in real need for the first time in three trophy laden seasons.
In truth, in the short and long runs, I’m more concerned with the defensive center/half of the mid-field and the left wing. Ferguson almost always brings in quality strikers and goal scoring attackers. His knowledge of his own former position undoubtedly aids and expedites his decision making process in those field areas, so I’m not freaking out too much, yet.
Depending on how the signings go, I think we’ll probably revert back to the 4-2-3-1 that we played so much in the League/Champions League Double season.
sorry about the mis-numbering of the list there.
Anyone who criticises Sir Alex’s transfer market moves needs to think back to 2006. Back then it was omigod how are we gonna replace Ruud with…CARRICK?! Three titles in a row later and a Champions League trophy I think its fair to say Fergie knows best. So we didnt get Benzema so what? His agent reiterated earlier that Madrid was always his preference and I’d rather not have another player praying for Spain summer after summer. Once is good enough. When we buy it will be the right person for us at the right price.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US LOVES ALEX FERGUSON..!
all this talk of benzema & then we finally get him NOTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!! was so hard to get over & there talking about owen you are having a laugh & utd want to leave us with ageuro to look forward when fergie retires.aguero is only the possible target left that is of the age we need & player than can fill ronaldos boots..
benzema i surely fort would have arrived.utd should defo of said in the ronaldo deal you leave our targets alone.there had 3 & we have valencia only.he wa bought with £20million budget we had to splash & receive £80 million which has not been touched yet.
costa & sanchez deserve to be brought in for every utd fan to enjoy & striker aguero..he will be close to kaka price even though he young his goal tally is outstanding & hes mature not a bench warmer been om first team for a long time.£48 million does seem alot but utd have to relise we got 80 for ronaldo.aguero has 2 be worth £48.there have to caugh up.we will still have money left over.i know its a massive figure but for real do you think were going to get him cheap.already everyone around the world knows his talent.
i always fort torres to utd & that never happened..i duno y..now he is telling every spanish player like david silva stay away from utd..ow about let him make his own mind up & do 1.serious zindane said to benzema madrid & y cant there make there own minds!!!!
number 1 target.1 left & training nearly bk under way wat a joke..no striker to get used to the team..he’ll never settle!
hand the cash over utd for once pay for a striker who wont let down..hes far from berba 0-0 score sheet every time he plays..rooney needs help..he’ll be sent of with thrustration at the ref to fuk off..i’d be the same with no help..do something about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AGEURO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UTD
simply the second best around! we have to get him.we cannot start a season without another striker possibally,weres the goals coming from.chelsea r going to destroy the club..i feel top 5 will be our position.if you put rooney on the wing again we will not make it to the champions league.
nani & valencia should be allowed to adapt to the wings & learn the responce ablities.there can both beat a man & score cracking goals at time.offering them more of a chance then park will do them every good,only the centre mid should be changed if a injury or tired ness..giggs,scholes,carrick,flecter,anderson switchong round & have tosic to sub on or start if anything happend to nani or valencia.rooney by himself upfront..striker is the must in this situation “”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”
Once again AGUEROO IS HIS NAME!
nah aguero too expensive.
its much more fun doing it with valencia and owen.
come on man utd.
success is like madness all it needs is a little push.
couple of things i cannot understand:
why we a not going to get (almost for free) Ruud van Nisterloy back to OT
and for a example Dzeko from Wolsburg?
Ruud will be perfectly fit with Wazza and for another two-three years will briliant. I’m sure.
Dzeko he is young (23y.o.) and he is natural born goalscorer. And he show his abilities already on club level (30 goals last season in Bundesleague) and also on national team level (second after Rooney in WCQ in Europe so far)..
Why Fergie not looking for this options?
What a stupid mistake that lad Benzema had made which he will regreat for the rest of his footballing career.He is too eager to join Real not realising that he will be warming the bench most of the time and his chance for playing for France will diminished.Real have all the season strikers and they actually need you to cover the injured players and also they were too afraid that MU will knock them out of the Champion League next season.
what happened to the clause in rossi’s contract? cant we bring him back?
I think its stupid that ferguson has bought owen instead off coughing up another few million to outbid madrid for benzema and btw hes got 80m to albsolute disgrace
exactly..owen story is true & i cannot believe it!,
whats gone wrong with utd.get abroad & get velesco.hargreaves has been so much of a let down.he is a very strong player as is ballack..but we are missing him all season nearly & looks like he wont play again.how can he not recover after all this year off???
surgurey must help him hes not crippled.cisse broke the same leg 3 times & what a player he is still cant there plate his legs with steel or something we miss him.maybe then we wouldnt be so angrey about benzema going.would feel like a new player cause we aint really seen much of him.
i still feel aguero is in drogba’s league,adabayor,torres,..so utd need him to compete against..the best.
hes never bought a striker of that sum ever before & about time we do a 1 off & watch how much he is worth it.real have bought 3 players which blow any1 out the water..y cant we get just the 1..were not asking for 3 fergie 1 aguero
utd players want to get onto fergie & tell him aguero..is he complete mad in the head,cant land benzema when hes cheaper than aguero.now he wont hand out cash for aguero.whats wrong with handing it out..tevez should of took the offer of fergie.
aw wel owen looks like hes coming on a free transfer aint to bad..
hes only getting a 50 wage & then if hes plays without injury he’ll be bk to his normal wage..& if injured again bk down to half it..is not to bad actually,hopefully he can score am sure he will..rooney knows him well.hope he can last till 32 or something lol
29 year old already.
we should of got martins aswell from newcastle there need the cash there championship club..martins is powerful & goal rate is very good..utd would improve it with the better players around him..we’d snatch him for £14 a bet newcastle couldnt say no the state there in..if we getting owen pay as you play then y not get martins he played for inter milan & was outstanding.hes used to the premiership but in a rushing team.get him fergie now you shocked us all with owen..buy all the players that are not to the further with the £80 you have get..players from burnley if you want there have some gd 1s NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT”!
future
I think Fergie should try to sign Ruud. One big reason he left the club was Cristiano Ronaldo. Now that Ronaldo is gone it would be perfect for him to come back do what he is best at, score goals. Of course Fergie had problems with him, but it could be sorted out. He would make a great signing. Owen too could be a good signing, just like what Henrik Larsson was two years ago.