Last night, both Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill confirmed that we will be busy in the transfer market this summer.
Does that mean busy like Obertan and Bebe? Or busy like Modric or Sneijder?
“It probably will be slightly busier than normal,” Gill said. “Gary has retired already. Edwin is retiring and Paul has to decide what he wants to do. We have been working very hard over the course of the last 12 months to plan which positions we need to fill, identifying those players and trying to work on it. What Alex Ferguson has done very successfully for nearly 25 years is to reinvent the team slowly and integrate them within the established stars. That is what we will continue to do. It gives a buzz to everyone at the club when you bring in high quality players. It is something we look forward to with relish.”
United have bought for “potential” more often than not recently, which allows smaller transfer fees, but most importantly, smaller wages. Chicharito and Chris Smalling look to be a bargain at that transfer fees, whilst the likes of Obertan and Bebe have yet to justify theirs.
It appears as though Gill knows we will be making a move for a big player, something we haven’t done since signing Berbatov in 2008.
It was suggested last night that Ferguson slipped and said Scholes had “come to the end of his career”. Either way, going or staying, we know we need a top class central midfielder next season.
We also know that we need a replacement for Van der Sar, with David De Gea seemingly the most popular man for the job.
Udinese’s winger, Alexis Sanchez, has been another player linked and apparently would prefer a move to United over City. With Nani and Antonio Valencia are only natural wide players, this move could make sense.
Do the club need to replace Gary Neville? I suppose it depends what happens with Wes Brown. Rafael, Fabio and John O’Shea all play there but if Brown leaves, as has been rumoured, it might leave us short, particularly given the injuries we’ve suffered over the past couple of years in that position.
“We have some ideas in mind,” said Ferguson. “Hopefully we can get them put in place. There are holes we want to plug up in terms of the safety and security of the team for the next few years. Of course, we have some excellent young players and a lot of them have progressed, which gives us a great, powerful squad. I am looking at maybe three signings which would boost our overall quality in our team.”