In the past few days, Sir Alex Ferguson has laughed off the idea of spending a ridiculous sum of money on Kaka, claiming there’s no way United would pull a City in the transfer market.
However, the Kaka rumours have kept coming thick and fast, with AC Milan claiming they would not stand in the way of their star player leaving if that’s what he wanted.
Now we have been heavily linked with Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery, who joined the German team two years ago for over £20 million.
The current German Player of the Year is desperate to play Champions League football again next year, which until recently looked in doubt with Bayern’s form, but with just five points between the top five teams, anything could happen.
Barcelona have been linked with a £30 million move for him recently, whilst today, United have supposedly tabled a £63 million bid for the player.
Really? No, really?
United have moved to distance themselves from the transfer talk, which appeared in The Guardian this morning.
Now whilst Ribery and Kaka are both quality players and of course I’d welcome either in to the United squad, surely this type of transfer talk can’t be taken seriously. Even with the transfer money from Ronaldo, if he is to go to Spain this summer, surely the club wouldn’t even consider spending such a ridiculous sum of money on a player.
When City put the bid in for Kaka in January, Ferguson was amazed.
“I find it hard to get my head round to be honest. It is amazing,” said Ferguson. “From time to time you get shocks and surprises and this is surprising everyone.”
So why on earth do these stories keep circulating? Could their be an element of truth to them? Or are the press really as barking as they seem?
Man Utd News 24/7
And it is only the 5th of May.
it’s all a load of bull. there is no way on earth fergie would be willing to spend that much money on these kind of players. it’s a nice thought but it’s not going to happen.
63 million, thats daylight Ribbery!!!!
all these clubs “Think” we are going to have 100 million pounds to blow from the sale of ronaldo…both want to sell their stars to finance purchases ac milan especially need fresh blood. Just goes to show how two faced clubs can be when accusing us of things to push up prices of players they always intended to sell…Hargraves anyone???
Ronaldo will stay and we will have two unsettled stars to buy.
Ribery half that price thanks for coming.
Nobody in the right sense of mind would spend so much on a player who has only played in France & Germany, nothing against these leagues, but they are not the English or Spanish leagues where the standards are much higher.
Am not sure if Ronaldo is going to go to “You know where” come the end of the season…his expressions after scroring against Porto and Spurs in addition the efforts he is making offlate to help the team out defensively certainly suggests his heart is with United. Given this context is it a case of Rib & Ron show on the wings…not a chance in hell
Ribery is a really good player and i would like to see him playing for us,but Ronaldo is way better than him and he’ll stay at OT,end of story.
Rubbish talks again by the press. Ribery for 63 million – no chance. I wouldn’t be willing to raw this much amount for a 28 year old winger.
As for kaka i would love to have him but it will only be possible if we win both pl and cl plus good amount of money from the players who’ll be departing from United.
I for one am hoping the Kaka one is true!
but not for the ridiculous money the press are suggesting….is it a bit too much to hope he will arrive for a decent fee because of our status and Champs League involvement?
Sorry instead of ‘raw’ it should be ‘pay’
He has just turned 26 mate.
Feel sorry for Milan, we know what it’s like having your player linked away all the time though the Kaka rumours get me really excited (completely in a none sexual way …well, maybe a little), he’d be fantastic in the Premier League, not sure if he’d fit into our squad, we already have to accommodate Ronaldo and getting Kaka to defend would be a waste of his talents!
off topic: just read in a swiss newspaper that chelski-abramobitch lost his USD 750k boat in a pokergame…
what a prick!
Ronaldo stays, Ribery comes…
Ronaldo on the right, Ribery on the left… Why not???
does this talk seem to move up earlier and earlier each year or is it just me? Let us get thru the league and CL and then we can entertain gossip.
btw, Milan seems to keep getting older. kaka would do well to move on but he seems very sensible and grounded.
Scott, it’s as true as your Bellamy to Utd article a month ago!
63m… yeah..i know!
The Guardian have somehow employed a former Sun hack or are desperate for more readers.
Franck Ribery to man united.
another small size winger.no way
united paying £62m for one player?
Thats insulting to SAF and United as a club. Anyone with a brain knows it’ll never happen.
@stephen-Sorry mate didn’t know his exact age but 63 million is way beyond ribery’s value. He should be around 30 million mark and 40 million at the extreme max. There are only a few players out there who should be costing around 50-60 million, the immediate names coming to my mind are rooney,ronaldo,kaka,messi,torres,.
wasn’t it the guardian who recently printed 3 ronaldo to madrid pieces in one day? only for him to go on to say the dream is now dead… guardian is getting a bit lowbrow these days imho! i dont like the Marca way of doing things, were a better club than that…
I think Ribery is a quality player and would welcome him but 63 mil is ridiculous. That, and I don’t think Ronaldo will be going anywhere in the summer, so all this is rubbish in my opinion.
Manchester united forever: spot on about Ribery’s value.Barca were ready for 30 million for Ribery which was a done deal.maybe its another way of linking CR7 to Real.
When I read this article today I thought that it was April 1st, again.
Comparing Ribery to Ronaldo is just plain silly – Ronaldo scores more, is better in the air, has a harder shot/free kick, and is younger, taller, and generates huge income from “image rights”. Ribery is a very, very good player but he’s not World Player of the Year, etc.
What’s especially odd about this story is its timing – not the fact that it appears on the morning of a major CL fixture but, rather, that it happens right after Madrid have been comprehensively humiliated at home by their main rivals. The hidden thought behind this article is that CR has already been flogged to the Fascists yet two days ago we had a direct quote from him that “the dream is over”, which came a couple of weeks after he stated that he’s “at the right club for me”.
Then, there’s the little question of the size of the transfer fee – 63 million quid ain’t so much nowadays but it’s still not peanuts. Since the story came from a “Munich source”, after there have been so-called “reliable reports” that Ribery wants to go to Barcelona, one gets the sense that there is a fair bit of beating-the-bush on the part of Hoeness, Beckenbauer, and the other directors of that team trying to drive Barcelona into making a bigger bid.
And, of course, one has to wonder how they came up with a figure of 63 million – by taking into account inflation to raise the ZZ numbers to correct 2009 values ? or just simple make-believe ? If you choose “simple make-believe” then I think you’re right because I don’t see any logic to this valuation. Ribery is a very, very good player but he’s got no “image rights” which would lessen his value, not raise it.
Finally, if we give any credibility to this story then we have to believe that SAF thinks his team will be better with the subtraction of CR and the addition of Carlitos and Ribery.
Who’s smoking what ? I want some.
I don’t believe these stories for one moment. The key part is the timing, designed to distract United from preparing for tonight’s Semi. It’s always the same, just before a big game there’s some big ‘revelation’ like this. Usually it involves Ronaldo which always gets a Pavlovian response from certain sections, but this is a subtle variant of it. It wouldn’t surprise me if some French pals of Wenger’s aren’t involved, hoping to get United fans to get on Ronaldo’s back tonight for ‘disloyalty’. I hope no match-going fans tonight fall for such bollocks. It’s a shame to see the once trustworthy Guardian (founded in Manchester, of course) so frequently sinking to these desperate levels. I wonder what the great Eric Todd, Guardian football correspondent in the 50s/ 60s , who used to cover United matches with wonderfully evocative prose in the Busby era would have made of it all.
Giles – I don’t think that this story would “distract United or unsettle CR although it does seem to give armchair fans a squeaky bum before – not after – tonight’s main course.
62M? Or was it a typo. 26M would be a more reasonable sum
is this really true ? which stand is going to be extended, anybody ?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article2411603.ece
Probably that Fat Spanish Waiter spreading rumours….
regarding kaka…obviously…i dont say no for tht transfer….but i think….CARRICK…if he is allowed to play in similar role to that of kaka…..he may nt be better than kaka……but that will do for me….and we are wasting him in the holding role…
i’ve got a feelin there’s somethin in this. The fact that there’s been no comment at all is not a denial. Everyone knows saf is a fan but there’s no way we’d say 60+ mil on anyone. To see him and ronaldo on the wings would be well worth my extra pound a game.
ancha: “but i think….CARRICK…if he is allowed to play in similar role to that of kaka…..he may nt be better than kaka”
Get real. Kaka is an incredible talent who can do things at speed that Carrick can’t even imagine. You may prefer hamburger to filet mignon but the price difference put on Carrick and Kaka reflects a completely different valuation from yours.
IF Ronaldo were to be sold then it’s going to be a matter of “re-inventing” the way that UTD play – just like when RVN was flogged to TheVirus and SAF switched to a more up-tempo attacking style of play with LouisLouisHaHa leading the line. That was just great but unfortunately Saha just could not stay match-fit and so PlanB was to funnel the attack into Ronaldo who justified SAF’s confidence by becoming a tremendous goal scorer. So, IF Ronaldo goes then SAF will have to devise PlanC.
AND, for what it’s worth, I’d rather pay 63 million for NandoBoy than Franck Ribery.
i am not sayin….kaka is not a talent…he is an incredible talent…
i even mentioned carrick is not better than kaka……i am jus saying….for me carrick in the same position is fine…
As someone else said above,there are only a handful of players in world football who deserve a 50 million plus price tag,and Ribery at this stage is not one of them. We don’t need to be shelling out that much on one player,especially if Ronaldo stays put.
Kaka is world class…a top top player.
Ancha is not saying carrick is better than kaka…in a million years he’s not. But sometimes filling your team with so called superstars can be a detriment to the team.
For all the star names you need the inconspicuous and silent heroes just as scholsey’s..carricks…fletchers. Thats what makes a team….not galacticos.
However on a final note…not wanting to contradict myself.
I wouldnt say no to some more fillet mignon at united as Denton Davey puts it
I think it was a £63 million package.
To me that means transfer fee and salary.
If fergie could get Kaka i have no doubt he would.
Ronaldo at the start of the season made it perfectly clear he wanted to join real! He was as blunt as you can be in the press and in interviews. I am sure he was as blunt to Fergie! i think Ronaldo was told that under no certain terms would he go last summer but knowint you cant keep a player who doesnt want to play for you has given Ronaldo his word that he can go to Real this coming summer if it is still what he wants. As long as the club get a suitable offer of above X!
That gives fergies back room team enough time to look for a sucessor for suitable money! We wouldnt have replaced Ronaldo if he went last summer! if he goes this summer, i would then expect to see Kaka or Ribery at United…..Or even both!..
People dont rate Kaka but he one of the best Midfielders in the world, who better to replace paul scholes!!!!!
With regards to riebery i doubt very much that the price tag would be 63mil. it we pay 40mil for riibery then ronaldo must be worth 120mil!
Guys can any of you tell me if ribery is an out and out winger or the one that cuts inside. Because if he likes to cut inside then he will be useless to us as we already have ronaldo cutting inside and what we need is an out an out winger. But you never know maybe rooney has made that position his own.
Prayer time lads
Maybe this is a ploy to get Ronaldo to commit to a long term contract because there is simply no way that Ribery can be considered a replacement. Aside from the fact that Ronaldo is in a different class, Ribery doesn’t score enough and the price is simply ludicrous.
Ribery isn’t worth more then 30 million…if that.
After another masterful performance by CR7, these rumours about “replacing” him with Franck Ribery just look silly.
Ronaldo set up the first goal, scored the second with a blistering free kick, and both set up and scored the third goal – he showed extraordinary skill and vision to back-heel the ball to Park into space then he outran Kolo Toure to get into position for TheBoyWonder’s cross-field pass and slot it home. In between, he didn’t exactly do nothing but had a few shots on goal, a header and assorted other “acts of danger”.
Ronaldo is a “difference maker” – a truly exceptional talent. Losing him would be something short of a disaster but he won’t be “replaced”. And while he might not even be the best footballer on the team, he is quite surely the most dangerous attacking force.
Shame about Fletch.. the referee is a sonabitch the red card wasnt necessary damn i wanted 2puke..
Well put Denton. Interesting to see how we never hear any more that Ronaldo flops on ‘big’ occasions. As I said weeks ago, when he finds his form, his problems will go. That’s what’s happening now. Perfect timing be-fitting the current World Player of the Year.