Late on Wednesday night news broke that Man Utd had tabled a £29m bid for Wesley Sneijder as well as enquired about Mario Ballotelli.
It created a buzz amongst United fans myself included as it went some way to proving that we were not as impoverished as various media sources would have us believe. I personally took pleasure in telling friends who support other clubs, “I told you so!” as they had jeered and jibed that we were broke.
The next day the euphoria came to an end and reality kicked in as Wesley Sneijder affirmed his intention to stay in Italy with Inter Milan. As far as I know the £29m bid wasn’t accepted or rejected as Sneijder himself killed the whole transfer with his own mouth but then I got to thinking, were we as United fans being had?
Sneijder has had a spectacular season, doing the treble with Inter as well as potentially winning the World Cup with Holland. His 5 goals in the competition put him the running for the golden boot, he is also a contender for the golden ball as well as being a front runner for the Ballon D’or so was £29m a realistic offer? There is always the danger of over paying especially when it comes to United and transfers but following the year he has had, the World Cup he is having and the inflated transfer market I don’t think Inter would have even considered it.
But David Gill isn’t a fool, he knows this.
Yet in making the bid United killed two birds with one stone, appeasing us who felt that there was no money at the club as well as going for a big name. I noticed for the brief time we have been linked with a move for Sneijder there has been very little talk on the Glazers or the club’s financial position.
I’m not an expert or a club insider and perhaps if Sneijder didn’t come out and say he wanted to stay at Inter we would have upped our bid or we may even still push for him now but the bid had it’s desired effect. Following Sneijder’s snub the papers have linked us with a move for Mesut Ozil. This would really please the fans and could possibly be cheaper than a deal for Sneijder so it’ll be interesting to see if we pursue this.
Owen Hargreaves’ latest injury set back may force us to spend as well so if we do actually have this money rather than just making gestures, this is when we will see.
Again, where does Fergie come into it? Where have I criticised Fergie? Nothing to do with Fergie.
And it’s interesting you raise the point that the bid is real because Inter said so. Inter said we are interested they didn’t say we had bid. They also said they were looking to keep him but conflicting reports said Moratti stated he could be secured at the right price.
Palermo said we were in for Kjaer as well as a host of other teams when apparently we wern’t. A lot of big teams had looked at Kjaer but went cold on him after poor performances towards the end of the season so in an attempt to drive the price up claimed we were looking and then Spurs.
You don’t think it’s strange a player that was supposedly wanted by a whole host of big teams ended up at Wolfsburg for 10m euros?
Please don’t believe everything you are told!
i know you ddnt mention fergie, i did as some fans like blaming him for stuff. i dont believe everything i read or hear, we have been linked to 119 players to my count this summer and probably 4 or 5 interests fergie. but it is not a smoke screen by gill or anyone. fergie i forever trust, believe.
i dont believe everything i hear or read and there has been alot who used our name to big up players. i doubt fergie even wanted kjare from palermo. g, burdisso claimed a month back he was days from joining either us or city and only hd to wait for the bid and oh look – nothing. the press claimed we triex to get villa wen he joined barca in may but this week fergie said we looked at him but never mentioned making a bid. the press said 2wks ago we was Bout to sign ninis from panathinaikos for 9.6m and nothi
we have been linked to 119 players the press we want ad fergie probably only looked at 4 or 5 of them. milnar, rodwell, benzema, aguero, piennar, lahm, krasic, vanderwiel, khedira, dzeko, silva, borh diarras, ozil, maicon, 14 goalies, gosling, higuain, cambiasso, arteta, j.cole, anelka, micah, ireland, robinbo, y.toure, doyle, raul, hangeland, vandervaart, mata, maicon, bale, modric, fabiano, suarez, subotic, hamsik, balotelli and sanchez to name afew and munich claim we want muller which i doubt.
the only ones i would like are sanchez, suarez and fabiano but who says we want anyone. manutd and fergie has not said a word, it is claims from other clubs who are trying to big up players and the media. fergie is happy with the team and woulld probably buy only one more, butbi am happy and wuldnt mind the youth getting more chances and trust fergie every step as he is god and knows what he is doing. in fergie and manutd i trust, believe. this yeaar we will regain our league title and bring it home.
So the bid for Sneijder was indeed a fake!
Well spotted by TRK, just makes you wonder why the club wasn’t as quick to turn around and dispel the rumour as they did when it came to Joe Cole?