Who stays and who goes this summer? We decide…
Whilst we largely have a good, strong squad there are some players some fans feel aren’t even deserving of gracing the bench, whilst there are others who do not match the quality that is portrayed weekly on the pitch but are valuable when called upon.
This summer United have moved to rearrange our house by getting new faces in ASAP, with 3 new signings made before the transfer window actually opened. But with new faces coming in there will inevitably be some going/linked with moves so here is my look at some of these players.
Dimitar Berbatov
He has effectively become a squad player since the emergence of Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez.
Some have argued that they he has been treated unfairly by Ferguson but his inconsistent scoring sees him on the verge of leaving Manchester United. For two seasons with the Red Devils, he scored 14 and 12 goals respectively having 43 games to score them in.
Many could vouch, myself included, that many of those wouldn’t have been starts so this statistic has been some what tainted however him not being selected for Champions League Final shows what the other strikers bring that he doesn’t have: A consistent goal threat.
He showed absolute class against Liverpool and Blackburn but not many people remember that between those games, where collectively he scored 8 goals, and a spell of 10 games where he failed to find the back of the net.
That typifies Berbatov, on his day he looks like a world beater but when he is having a bad day he cannot grind anything out for himself and sometimes not even the team.
Because of his new found squad status, I would like to see him moved on for the simple fact that Welbeck & Macheda will be coming back and the former has deserved his chance after successful loan spell at Sunderland.
As I completed this article, it was being rumoured that both PSG and Valencia are considering a move for Berbatov, so if a bid is accepted it may appear that Sir Alex has a similar pattern of thinking about the Bulgarian.
Darron Gibson
After Essien scored that swirling effort against Arsenal to save a point for Chelsea, whenever he gets within range, Chelsea fans can be heard shouting “Shoot!!!!”
One does wonder whether Gibson has this effect on constant replay in his head.
He has scored some great goals for Manchester United but at least other players who too have scored great goals like Rooney and Nani can back it up with quality approach play whereas what I have seen of him leaves me unconvinced.
He can play a killer final ball but he has the same problem with a lot of the squad players I am going to discuss: consistency.
I may appear harsh but he is a player I held in high esteem following his spell in the reserve so I feel like he has thrown it back in our faces by producing constant poor or average performances.
Even though he doesn’t show it, his passing range is good but his timid play doesn’t bring anything to the table. Rio Ferdinand said that in his first training session that he had a chance to play it forward but played it safe and sideways. Immediately on his back, Roy Keane shouted at him that this is the top level and that playing it safe isn’t go to be good enough here.
It appears Gibson may be on his way to Sunderland and I for one won’t be too sad at seeing him go.
Wes Brown
He used to have braids.
He used to be a prominent member of our defence.
And it seems that he used to be a United player.
Several clubs have been circling him despite his performances having dipped dramatically since the highs of 2008 and to coincide with this he has fallen out favour massively at Old Trafford.
I do not have anything to complain about Brown concerning his ability as he has shown that he is quality but it just seems to be on the wane.
He used to be United’s best right-back but now he seems to be on the way out with Rafael and Fabio Da Silva coming and taking the top two places and I feel his departure is best for both parties.
Click here for our look at the rest of the players on my list
We hadn’t seen a product emerge from our academy in a long time and sustain a prolonged stay in the first team in a long while before Jonny Evans came to the forefront in 08/09.
He looked like he had it all; the calm head, the assured positioning and spatial awareness and ruggedness in tackling. He was being spoken of as a ready-made replacement for Vidic or Ferdinand, whichever one gave way first. But his decline over the last season and a half has seen him go from the man to step in if any injuries occurred to the man who could barely be trusted to operate in his own position.
Every time I would see him on the starting line-up, I would see a mistake in him.
Once I dislike a player, it will take a long time for me to like them again and towards the end of last season he went some way to restoring my faith in him by showing flashes of his old self. I think he can be a top defender but that will probably only occur if he stays at Old Trafford.
Tom Cleverley
Confidence and Arrogance.
Sometimes people confuse them because there are lots of grey areas when it comes to these two words.
Cleverley feels that he has the ability capable of replacing the skills of the Scholes. Before we come to the judgement of whether he is good enough let’s evaluate his ability.
He can play all across the midfielder, whether it be on either wing or in the center of the midfield. He also has a decent range of passing and an eye for goal.
Whilst these qualities would appear ideal to be as blunt as a bad knife, right now he is good enough to fill the 25 man places in our squad and I don’t see him cementing a place in the starting XI.
To go back to those two words, confidence and arrogance, Cleverley has shown both. It takes absolute confidence in your abilities to say that the departure of Scholes shouldn’t be focused on too much because you can replace him.
However, it can also be looked at as his arrogance bordering on excess, we will learn whether he is right or wrong this season if Sir Alex makes good on his word and gives him proper time on the field.
This piece is taken from new United blog ‘Expertise On United‘ follow him on Twitter here