It happens at the end of every season.
In the pub with your United mates, you’ll discuss the players you think need to be moved on and the players you think will be brought in. You can quite easily come up with a handful of names for each, but it very rarely happens. Until, it seems, this year….
With Gary Neville, Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes retiring and Owen Hargreaves not having his contract renewed we are four big names down straight away. Add to that the three seemingly certs to leave- John O’Shea, Wes Brown and Darron Gibson- as well as the loan departures of Ritchie de Laet and Bebe. If any of the other transfer rumours come to fruition (Evans, Nani, Berbatov) then it’s conceivable that a full XI could be on their way out of Old Trafford over the summer.
So who to bring in?
The two done deals are of course Phil Jones and Ashley Young, with David de Gea looking very likely to be added to that list within the next couple of days. All three are very promising signings but apart from de Gea replacing Van der Sar, will either of the other two expect much first team football next season? It will be interesting to see the roles Fergie has planned for them both- Jones will do well to replace Ferdinand/Vidic/Smalling, but maybe Fergie doesn’t see him playing there just yet. Young offers cover to either wing or the forward positions, but has very strong players already higher up in the pecking order. It does show long term thinking, Jones is widely regarded as the most promising English centre half of his generation and Young will be available to give Giggs’ ageing legs a rest. It shows Fergies belief that a strong squad is required to be able to win the Premier League.
Come the start of the season we may or may not have the strongest looking team on paper, but the signings show that come the busy parts of the season, we will have the squad available to rotate and keep players fresh without damaging the standard of the team. One other thought on the signings is whether Fergie is concerned about the introduction of a rule stating how many ‘home grown’ players are required to be in the starting line-up. Buying young English talent now could be preferable to waiting until such a rule is brought in and seeing the premium prices for English players rise even higher.
Despite over £50m being spent on these players we are still being linked with a ‘marquee signing’. If reports are to be believed then it sounds like that player is Luka Modric, but whether that’s the case, only Fergie knows. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a different target currently not picked up by the media, the less people know about it the lower the price seems to stay (see Chicharito for a prime example). A box to box central midfielder would be my ideal signing, someone in the mould of Roy Keane, or (dare I say it) Paul Ince.
Despite all the potential comings and goings it’ll be nice when the squad is settled and the season has kicked off. Transfer speculation is all well and good, but it’s much better when it’s diluted with the proper football action!
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its the usual issue of fan expectations and wanting to the plan, the media/agents linking us to everyone and the clubs need to keep deals under wraps.
we keep getting linked to players like nasri but i cant see arsenal selling him too us and the a kid from south america will pop up with a large price tag and being called the next ????.
personally i would like to sell carrick and bring in parker but i know its very unlikely.
if no one else leaves (not counting brown/gibo look like there gone but i still hope evans/o’shea stay) then depending on how fergie sees the kids coming through i would like to sign 2 midfielders. one defensive or at least combative and the other creative.
as much as i like big names i would be just as happy with good finds or those that arent superstars.
if nani/berba were to leave top class replacements would be needed as they were key players last season.
if i had to sell one it would be berba not because his a bad player but his age plus his style mean his a square peg in a round hole.
I’m going to be controversial and say that Young could potentially take Valencia’s place in the team for the simple reason that he offers more. Valencia is a great player but can be too predictable and can only really play in one position. With Young he can drift from the right or left just like Nani and being two footed as opposed to Valencia who’s predominantly right footed gives the team greater flexibility in the way they can play. In terms of the midfield I would quite like to see Thiago and Martinez signed, although it’s unlikely that we will sign two midfields they would great signings imo. Modric is good but is he worth £35m? I don’t think so, Nasri would be good but I can’t see Arsenal selling him to us and I think Sneijder is too old and to costly.
Lets SAF works on nasri and luka and close d chapter
Lets SAF works on nasri and luka and close d chapter buying and open d selling pages.
business well done Sir Alex, we only have 2 central midfielders missing in the names of Nasri and Chiek Tiote from Newcastle. or wesley sneijder and blaise matuidi from france and truly we shall call upon pep gurdiola and his barca.we shall disgrace the laliga.