Two years ago Sky Sports News reported that Manchester United had signed Marcos Senna for £3.5 million. Guillem Balague then announced the deal hadn’t yet been confirmed, but would be shortly, however for a fee closer to £6 million.
The reaction from the United fans was fairly mixed, with most being put off by his age. The midfielder had just turned 30-years-old and we were looking for a long term replacement for Roy Keane, who had left us 8 months before.
However, we were fairly desperate at the time, with Ruud van Nistelrooy leaving and seemingly no players interested in signing. Michael Carrick was on the cards, but none of us were too happy with the £18 million price tag.
In the end, Villarreal became impatient with United, as Carrick emerged as our priority signing, with Senna being used as back up, and pulled the plug on the deal. United signed Carrick, he proved himself to be worth the transfer fee, and United won the league for the following two seasons, as well as the European Cup. Senna’s name was forgotten about.
But then came Euro 2008, with Spain triumphing with Senna playing in the centre of midfield. Now aged 32, he was included in UEFA’s team of the tournament, and was named as player of the tournament by many.
Ahead of our game tonight, Senna has spoken out about his proposed transfer to United.
“I came very, very close to signing,” he said. “Sir Alex Ferguson talked to my agent and everything was done – then they suddenly signed Carrick.”
Of course, we now have Anderson and Owen Hargreaves who join our central midfielders, but we could have got Senna for a total bargain.
Do you wish we’d signed him?
i see your point, but we haven’t actually been struggling without him have we , eh
Absolutely, he is a beast for both Villareal and Spain. His non inclusion in the world cup tie with France was the main reason they went out. His passing is slightly inferior to Carrick but his tackling is much better and he has an amazing shot on him with both feet.
Since signing Carrick we’ve won the league twice in two seasons, not saying he wouldn’t have been a nice addition but we can’t look back. As for Carrick I always thought £18 million was a steal, I loved him from his Spurs days and he was just the player we were looking for.
Scott a quote from the article sums it up perfectly:
“United signed Carrick, he proved himself to be worth the transfer fee, and United won the league for the following two seasons, as well as the European Cup. Senna’s name was forgotten about.”
And don’t forget that Carrick is English, which makes a huge difference. I don’t think that with Senna instead of Carrick we would have done any better these past seasons.
Outside of England, Senna is one of my favourite players to watch, he oozes class. But he was already 30 years old when he was on the table and I think United made the right choice going with Carrick’s youth, albeit expensive.
He is a fantastic player and was an important player for Spain this past Euro’s. I think it would have been better for him to be a part of United. We won the double last year, and just imagine the year he could of had last year, won the double and the Euro’s! I think things turned out with Hargro and Carrick. Hargro has proved extremely useful for us playing in numerous different positions and Carrick has grown into one of the top 4 English midfielders in my mind. His passing opens up defenses and he fills gaps on the defensive end and sits back well being another option going forward. Senna would have been nice, but we can’t have the best in the world at each position, just players who do the job day in day out, which is what Carrick did last year, as did Hargo when fit (Arsenal game).
Weren’t we looking to sign Carrick and Hargreaves in the same season? It should be a Senna vs Hargreaves debate.
And we all know who’s a better player don’t we?
The real question hasn’t yet been raised so here goes: since both Carrick and Hargreaves are almost constantly injured or recovering-from-injury while Senna has proven to be very sturdy, it seems to me that he would have been an excellent addition to provide that midfield fulcrum. He would also have provided “continuity” by being constantly available for selection.
So, for me the real question isn’t which guy would be the “best fit” or even the “best player” but which one would have made the most substantial contribution. From watching Senna at Euro/08, it’s pretty clear that he would have been not only the best addition but also the cheapest. But, on the other hand, winning two EPL titles and a CL with Carrick and last year’s double with Hargreaves wasn’t too shabby, was it ?
Pointless arguement really
The spanish style game is too different from the EPL so you dont know whether Senna would have had (or not) similar injuries to Carrick or OH while playing for Utd the last two seasons.
Carrick has played 50 games each season for the last two – so its anything but constant injuries and while OH hasnt had the best of luck with his knees I have no doubt at all that Utd wouldnt have won the CL last season without his versatility (RB, centre midfield and winger) in the team.
Maybe Utd should have bought Senna AS WELL as the other two (after all even £6m is nothing to Utd – we bought Vidic and Evra for that kind of amount in the winter window) but definitely shouldnt have been instead of one or the other
NNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Senna is class and would have been a great buy. And even though there were many doubts about carrick signing..ans some fans still doubt him. He has done a marvellous job and and has been a great addition to our team. Plus he’s got 5/6 years on senna and is english.
Anyway hope he gets fit soon…shame the lad has had a torrid time this season with injuries. And as for the holding role itself. In my eyes i think we ve got the best holding midfielder in the world in our team..HARGO…the guy is class. IF bloody only he remained fit for a consistent period. Cos for me he is top draw and has been each time he’s played for us
No trick missed. He doesn’t have a geordie accent or curly hair…..just wouldn’t fit in.
Senna would have been a good buy but considering his age and the fact that the EPL is quite different from the La Liga, he may come and flop which is one reason i think SAF looked at cos he’s always been careful about bringing some players from outa the league.
But all the same i think there’s been no reason to regret cos we’ve had positive results with carrick so…
i agree with Mic,Carrick is our man, he’s the real reason behind our succes in the last couple of years.without we strugle,as we saw on saturday.Senna is a very good player,good tackler,and Missile launcher,even though i’d take carrick anytime.
@Mic: I agree with everything else, but £18m a steal????