Federico Macheda scored the winning goal for Italy U21 against England U21 this week and whilst he’s enjoying the weather in Italy whilst on loan with Sampdoria, he admits he’s missing Manchester United.
“I’m looking forward very much to getting back to Manchester United but not the English weather,” said Macheda. “You can get fish and chips there though and I like them. You can’t get them here. I was nearly 16 when I went to Manchester United and I do love it there. I’m almost English. My friends now say I speak better English than Italian. Of course I’m looking forward to going back. I’ve had a few injuries but I think things are getting better now.”
Macheda may be in a different country but he still feels connected to the club because of the manager.
“I think Sir Alex is looking out for me,” he continued. “I spoke to him three weeks ago on the phone and I spoke to him before I came here. He said: ‘If there’s anything you need, just call me.’ Because he’s still my coach. I still feel like I’m in his long-term plans, of course. My ambition is to be part of Manchester United because that’s where I want to go. I’ve been at Sampdoria for a month now and I’m really happy. Obviously it’s not like Manchester United – because Manchester United is a proper club – but I’m happy to be here and I want to do well, for myself and the team. I’ve got six months on loan and I hope to do well to get back there even stronger to show what I can do.”
Man Utd News 24/7
A “proper club”. Haha. They’ll love that.
United is a proper club, or big club? not gonna endear himself to the samp fans now is he?
Maybe he used ‘proper’ is slang terms. Like proper, good!
Proper club,lol ,good one,hopefully its not just words,I hope he means it.
Fergie has a lot of faith in this boy.
Our italian hitman.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
A “proper club”, quality!
At least it looks like we don’t have to worry about him not coming back!
Good old fish and chips!
“PROPER CLUB” No disrespect Sampdoria but our boy knows the script….
Maybe he should have used ‘init’ after the proper club! Hope you come good Kiko, so many potential players in the past that have not cut the mustard is hard not to be cynical.
its a proper club innit? lol gorse hill red
Haha Proper Club – Top man!
Can’t wait to have you back Kiko.
Probably a bit of mistranslation there, he probably mean massive or something,maybe a word in italian we don’t have?
Either way good to see his positive attitude, I’m really looking forward to him returning. He’s a looking pretty big now, a good 6ft 1 or so, the kind of height we haven’t had up front a lot recently besides Berbatov (who until this season wasn’t really scoring headers for fun).
But then this leaves us with a big headache up front… Berbatov and Rooney will probs still be first choice. Hernandez probably third. Then there’s Macheda, Welbeck, Diouf, Bebe and Owen (who despite not really putting a foot wrong in his time here will probably get released, but will be remembered fondly). Wish we had a selection headache anywhere this interesting in central midfield (where we could at least play 3 of them at once!).
This would be my (football manager style) plan:
1. Rooney and Berbatov first choice (assuming neither leave for a massive fee), but rest them more than this season. Neither should start in CL group stage or League Cup.
2. Hernandez 3rd choice
3. Macheda and Welbeck battle it out for 4th. Maybe play Welbeck on the wing sometimes? Same with Rooney.
4. Sell Diouf (seems harsh but for some reason we’ve signed 2 strikers since we signed him, would’ve liked to give him a chance)
5. Loan out Bebe (maybe keep him as an attacking winger, or let him play both up front and on the wing) to give him PL experience.
But c’mon SAF a couple of CMs would be nice! Especially if we persist with playing 4-5-1/4-3-3 in big matches.
Happy to hear that his heart is at United ((unlike one red in particular)) sweet words from him and I hope he continues to do well at Sampdoria.
Villa fans would dread to see him back in our line up
Strategic plan for 2011/12:
Rooney, Carrick, Diouf and Gibson out = £60m
Splash the cash on two midfielders, one defensive to replace Hargo, one creative to provide service for the strikers and wingers. (dunno who – any ideas?!)
Strikeforce of Berba and Chico as our Yorke and Cole, with Kiko and Danny as our Sheringham and Solskjaer.
Sorted.
@Alfie
I would say sell rooney along with diouf that will free up some space upfront, anyway I’m just kidding I’m not into this ” sell X” stuff
@Alfie: Didnt they make a movie of u?
Berba/Rooney first choice,With Chica super sub. First situation.
Owen brings more that goalscoring to the team .Has been excelling in a deeper role in midfeild supporting the strikers,the game at southhampton he had to go deep to make up for the performance of out midfeild.And he is a brilliant professional player in the team,senior by experience and Fergie seems to appreciate that. He might be still be here for 2 more years.
Beside he understands he will not start as often,wants to but willing to be patient,important cos the last thing u want is a guy throwing a fit. It has to be balanced cos u dont want a guy just sunning himself on the bench either.he is a 4 th striker.
Fedrico needs a run of games and experience,not going to get that with us ,so a loan is the best bet,if he does food he comes back and takes someones place. 2 year frame sounds right.
Welbeck the Red Mancunian,has been deployed as a winger and striker so he shud be actually in contention for that role within the team .
Now we come to Mame,heis good but to make it in our team ,I just dont know. Feel he might be the one to leave.
Rooney,Berba,Chica,Owen,Macheda.
Welbeck winger.
Mame released.
Obertan on loan.
Giggs 1 more year,Park,Nani,Welbeck,Bebe wingers.
Ouch. “Proper club”.
I love you Kiko
@kanchelskis
In the current market scenario do you seriously believe that only 60 m can be generated.from selling those four, I would say we will get around 80 m
But i don’t like selling any of those four, but letting diouf go on loan for another season will be better option
What do u guys think of Mame? we know a lot of the others.
Anyone here follows his exploits closely with blackburn?
Legend. No one will never forget his debut. Or his goal the next week. Won us the title that season.
Still a long way to go though for him!
Glad to see these quotes, shows he still wants to come back and seems like Fergie wants him back. Kiko has got some real potential but I do worry about what we’ll do with all our strikers next year!
Nice interview.have high hopes 4 him
@ancha
Let’s be honest, Rooney hasn’t exactly advertised him self well this season. I’d be surprised to get any more than £40m for him. Carrick’s getting on a bit, and again is a shadow of his former self. £10m. Then Gibbo and Diouf at around £5m apiece.
Definitely a pessimistic evaluation, but it would still furnish us with plenty of funds.
If we didn’t have as many strikers as we do, I’d welcome Diouf back with open arms, as he undoubtedly has promise. But he’s not doing great for Blackburn, and with the Berba, Chico, Kiko and Danny (and Maybe Owen?) around, he wouldn’t get a look in, and that wouldn’t be fair on the lad. Maybe sell him on with a buy-back option?
Am one of those who slated Rooney like there was no tomorrow when he did what he did. But since he’s wearing our jersey I will bank on him to better and hope he does.
Its a long way to forgiveness but it isn’t one without lights at the end of the tunnel.
He’s got every attributes to make him a “leader of our football team” thats why it was so gut wrenching to see him disrespect the club like that.
Its a long way to forgiveness but it isn’t one without lights at the end of the tunnel.
And I have just repeated myself.
I know we are talking goal scorers here, the fact is we dont score enough from midfield . Put Rooney there , Play Berbatov and Hernandez up front . What is there go lose i don’t mean on Saturday but try it in training or the cup . Some thing has to change and quick.
Those saying Diouf should be sold, give your justification
Nice one kiko. Fish and chips lol.
Poor Sampadoria. Between Cassano having his contract ripped up and Kiko rubbing it in, the fans are not having a good time of it lately.
Proper CLUB! That is utter disrespect. :p
GET HIM BACK TO MANCHESTER. Send Rooney the other way. LOL
Fish and Chips , beat Citeh Saturday . A great (proper) weekend lol .
i’m with you kiko two biggest things i miss living in canada is watching utd live and grimsby fish and chips
Of all the recent loan deals, this was the one that had me rolling my eyes in disbelief.
We should have sent Rooney out on loan instead…
That makes total sense.
Surprised you did not think of that yourself Willie
How dumb would it be, to give Rooney a bumper new contract, and then send him out on loan? Bench yes, loan no!
‘Obviously it’s not like Manchester United – because Manchester United is a proper club…’
– sounds like something has been lost in translation there
Been reading lots of posts deriding Gibson.. Haven’t seen him do anything that wud generate any confidence in him over last 6 mnths.. But then 5yrs back people were similarly baying for Fletch’s blood.. Gaffer stuck with him and over last 2 seasons he became player for big matches..
In short, in SAF i believe and i trust his assessment..
If I knew better than him, well, I would have to be God.. !!
Phil Babb ‘ The welcome to Manchester banner for Tevez was a fantastic piece of marketing ‘
playing in front of 75,000 fans compared to 23,000 i can see were the proper club comes from plus when utd play away its always a big deal.serie a in general is a poorly supported league 15 of the 20 teams ave less than 25,000.so in his mind must feel like the minors
Kiko has always said the right stuff, hasn’t he… No matter where he ends up playing, either with us or with an Italian side, I will always hold him in the highest regard for that Villa goal. What a fucking moment that was. I loved the celebration almost as much as the quality of the goal itself. When he went and celebrated with his father, a big burly skin headed dude who had tears of joy in his eyes, that almost made me tear up…. I get chills thinking about that game. I must have rewound it 6 times and watched the last 10 mins of the match. If you go back to that game to Ronaldo’s second that brought us level, Kiko goes mental!! He is celebrating wildly and slapping the shit out of Ronnie!!
Brilliant – thats good news, had worried he might go “native” out there, Italy is a beautiful country.
Can’t wait for him and Welbeck to come back, by then Hernandez has a year under his belt. Not forgetting Diouf either… haven’t seen him for BBurn recently is he injured? Strong and fast with a good eye for goal, I can see him surprising a few fans and supporters.
big burly skinhead fuck me kiko’s dad is dominic noonan
call sir alex not rooney never no never for anything LOL
That’s some cryptic shit Dr Hannibal?
As for our striker options for next season, I think its a very tough call….
I think the only thing that is beyond debate is that Berba will be the first option. And I would say that he should be the first option even in the games where we have 1 striker. I think with flying wingers in Nani and Antonio up front supporting him he could be effective as a lone striker.
Wayne, well I hold out some optimistic hope (some could say unfounded hope) that he will magically pull his head out and find some form. Maybe he will maybe he won’t. But people suggesting that we should sell him for 40 mil, you’re having a laugh. Based on this season’s form he isn’t worth half that. But I think hell would freeze over before SAF sold him anyway so its really a non issue. Let him start in a 442 with Berba and hope he turns it around. But stop playing him on the wing because he doesn’t help anyone out there.
Javier — First off, put f’ing Hernandez on your shirt and not your f’ing nickname… Other than that, keep doing what you’re doing son. Keep pushing Wayne for that starting spot, and if SAF is resistant than keep coming off the bench to save our asses.
Owen — A very tough call. I think he has looked very bright in his last few appearances but I think we all know its just a matter of time before he picks up another injury. So, if he is willing to keep at his bit part role then hell, keep him around next year. I see nothing negative from having him here.
Danny — I think his performances for sunderland this year have been good enough that he deserves at least a chance. But even though he has the quality to be a good attacking option on the wing I think that would be a disservice to him to bring him back and then only play him out wide. He is a striker and should be judged on his performances there.
Kiko — I have no idea. I think he is brilliant but will he be willing to accept a bit part role? Maybe another loan should be in order. Or maybe bring him back and let him compete with Owen and Danny. Competition for spots can only benefit the side. I just see it, unfortunately, as a Rossi type scenario.
Diouf — Good luck elsewhere. This doesn’t mean he isn’t quality but its just a numbers thing. Where does he fit in? We can’t play a 2-3-5 formation.
Basically I wrote a novel here that doesn’t answer anything. Sorry for this. But I’m bored at work
I don’t think Berbatov’s place is certain for next season. Yes, he’s banged the goals in this year, but Rooney was scoring for fun last season. We don’t know if the Berb will be as prolific, next year, as he has been this season. I think for all our strikers, they start with a clean slate. Obviously, we don’t know yet, who’ll still be here, come the summer. I would refrain, from making any assumptions, until we all know who’s staying at the club, and who isn’t. This summer will be as interesting, as any I’ve ever known.
Hes never going to be in the starting 11, at best hes always going to be 4th choice striker. Only a matter of time before he moves on permanentley for regular football.
@ Gorse Hill 10:39….. surely ‘ int’it ‘ would be the better choice over ‘init’. That would make him sound a bit like CLLC!
Haha, “proper club” was the first thing i saw. Raises eyebrow. Sounds pleasasnt though!
Yaay we’re a proper club
PROPER!!! Poor Samp tho, lost coaches and stars, Kiko keeping it together, and now he’s leaving.
Yet ANOTHER instance of Papa SAF, looking after the kids. Love it
This kid will be a star. Mark my words. In years to come him and danny uo front. I think its safe to say diouf won’t be back. I sincerely hope danny DOES come back but I have a feeling he could stay at sunderland for henderson. I was one banging on about jordan six months ago. Since then tjough he has been poor. Interesting summer ahead. I bet you rooney and carrick won’t be sold and really hope owen stays. Gibbo could go merely to get games.
KE — I would be gutted if we did a Danny for Henderson deal
@ willierednut: if you want to know my true feelings, unless he does something miraculous this weekend (and I’m not holding my breath) we should probably have flogged him for as much as we could have got.
Just to throw an idea out there, should we sell Rooney for ronaldo style money?
Just that u look at the quality young strikers coming through and it’s not possible to keep 5 happy. That would then allow us to bring in world class giggs, scholes and Hargreaves replacements.
Otherwise we risk losing welbeck and/or kiko.
Who’s gonna give United 80 million for Rooney? Last season maybe, not this season.
Still cant beleive you people want to sell Rooney. Yeah he had a poor season by his standards and yes he disrespected the club and fans by his actions a couple of months ago but fuck me it was only 18 months ago everyone was calling him one of the best in the world. If we sold every player after a bad season Berba would have been sold after his first year with us, several other players havnt always been on top of their games either.
This to me is EXACTLY why i dont want so called fans/red knights running the club, we would go down the shitter quicker than Leeds if the fans had their way. Think with your heads and not with your hearts and i dare say nobody here could justify selling Rooney, if anyone can say we’d be stronger without Rooney id say your full of shit.
And yes i know nobody is bigger than the club and if a player doesnt want to be here he should be sold ASAP. Rooney decided he wanted to stay so that should be the end of it, mark my words Rooney will find his form again, maybe not this season but he will be back and you will al be lining up to kiss his arse once again.
Unied till I die. Spot on. Yes we are all pissed at wayne but the lad will come back. We cannot keep selling our best players. Ronnie went. We can’t lose rooney as well. A fit and firing wayne is unplayable. Just needs to sort his fucking swede out. Willie. Hello mate. I disagree on berbatov. For me he is an instant starter and one of our best players. I know where you are coming from though. You start the season froma clean slate. Alright drew. How’s things? Oh I would be gutted too. Cannot see us selling danny though. As someone pointed out he can play anywhere across front three. As for that villa game I was there and it was unbelievable. Ronnies free kick then going two one down with ten or so min to play and staring our third defeat on the spin in the face. Then ronnies almost scuffed shot into the bottom right corner. Then THAT goal. A mental afternoon. Ot was bouncing. You knew the league was won that day. A fantastic day.
King Eric – Well mate, If some fans want Rooney dropped, because he’s not scoring goals, then that should apply to all our strikers. As I say, clean slate for all the players, I suppose, next season.
The thing with Rooney is people seem to expect him to create his own goals, like any striker rooney is only as good as the service he gets in the box, which quite frankly has been piss poor at times this season. Now im not saying he hasnt missed some easy chances this season because he has but as we have seen this year with Berba confidence is crucial to any striker getting goals. He was missing sitters every week last year because he lacked the confidence in front of goal and now look at him he cant miss at times.
To me rooney plays best with two traditional wingers out wide who are getting in good crosses and right now Nani is the only true winger we have. Having Nani and Valencia fit again and playing gives us a better balance up front, the goals will come again for Wazza but he needs the support of the fans to make it happen.
@ united till I die
The point I was making us that we’ve got too many strikers and nobody in midfield. It’s got nothin to do with the events of this season.
The problem when we sold ronaldo was that we didn’t replace him at all. Imagine if we would have brought in two world class players as well as Valencia.
What I’m opening for discussion is whether lettin Rooney go for big cash would allow young players like Hernandez, kiko and welbeck time to develop their potential rather than lose them and regret it (like pique and Rossi). Therefore if big money was spent on our under par midfield, the team overall would be better (in my opinion, it’s no good having a great striker if the midfield ain’t good enough to supply him – look at Torres before he sold his body to the sex trade)
Ps- I also trust u aren’t referring to me as a “so called fan”. Season ticket for 6 years, 2 European cup finals and an fa cup final in the last 6 seasons from a 4th generation Manchester red would suggest my opinion is as valid as most.
Come on Son..score a few goals and show that slow bastard Dimitar Berbatov…oops Rooney how its done !!
Patch- I wasnt referring to anyone in particular with the “so called” fan comment, for me though selling Rooney to make room for our younger strikers would be a bad move. Lets face it the younger guys havnt proven anything yet. Kiko has scored some important goals but from the bench but from what i can remember he hasnt done much in the games he started. Wellbeck has scored goals at sunderland but again hasnt exactly set the world on fire when hes started for UTD. I dont think Diouf will return too old trafford and Bebe cant even get minutes off the bench right now. It wasnt long ago Frazier campbell was supposed to be the next big thing and look where he ended up. Its catch 22 the young players cant get the playing time and you need the experiance of the older forwords.
I agree 100% with you though on needing world class midfield replacements for the old brigade..
Kiko will be happy to go on loan to Suderland/Newcastle then—bloody marvellous fish and chips in the north east, it must be said.
@ willierednut et. al.: Just to make it clear, it’s not his failure to score goals which makes me wish we had sold / will sell him. Hes contributed more than enough in the past to deserve time to get over a patch of bad form.
What concerns me more is his intolerable off pitch behavior, stated desire that he wanted to leave, ridiculous claims that the club wasn’t good enough despite the fact that the rest of the squad had put the team in a fantastic position almost entirely without his help this season.
I’ll admit that the fact that a Hernandez / Berbatov partnership seems to have so much potential promise that it makes all of this even less easy to tolerate, but really, if he hadn’t done and said the things he had, and had shown the 100% commitment to the club he has done up until this season then I wouldn’t feel the way I do.
What I really dislike, is that despite all the gnashing of teeth from Merseyside, their fans can at least console themselves with the fact that they got shot of their traitor while we appear to have pandered to ours.
A brilliant read on expiring player contacts at Old Trafford, who all will leave the theatre of dreams?
http://www.thehardtackle.com/index.php/man-utd%e2%80%99s-corner-spring-cleaning-the-theatre-of-dreams/
@ united till I die
Fair cop mate. I hear what ur sayin about kiko, not quite as sure about welbeck. I’ll have he didn’t do much for us but think that’s coz he looked bandy and played on the wing. Now he’s bulked up and playing centrally he looks a very good player (better than kiko). Kiko’s problem is that he has no positional sense and maybe regular first team football will change that.
I also think they might put Hernandez on the weights over the summer like they did with rafa and nani summer gone and with a full pre season and another year wiser, he’s gonna b seriously knocking on the door.
Like I said, wouldn’t Defo get rid of Rooney, but can see arguments for it.
/me eats words. GET IN THERE WAYNE!