No new contract for Ballack

pickarooney

The deadline which Ballack set for a renewal of his contract has expired, and so he's definitely on the move next season.
Haven't found an English link yet, but there's a German article here.

This could mean that Bayern will try to cash in on him before the end of the season, but I kind of doubt it as that would scupper his chances of a Champions' League win this season, and whoever buys him would not be able to play him in the competition.

Should be interesting to see where he goes. He seems keen on a move to Madrid, and might be a timely replacement for Beckham or Zidane.

edit: Channel 4 has more here.

galwaydude

i read somewhere that said he wants to go to madrid as he doesnt think Utd are big enough for him. Aparently bayern have starting scouting alternatives in preparation for ballacks departure.

Personally i think he should go to Utd but will prob end up in madrid or Inter

Big Nelly

Bayern have already said that because they have withdrawn there contract doesnt mean he is leaving,.....they are just leaving it up to him to make up his mind.....still are looking for replacement!!

eirebhoy

I don't see why he'd go to United as realistically they need a whole knew midfield to even have a chance of finishing above Chelsea. Madrid or Juve would be the only teams I can see him leaving Bayern for.

PHB

The reason he might go to United is because he can recognise that he might make a huge difference there, i.e. the difference between the team being amazing and good, as it is now.
Since we have some fairly impressive talent up front, and a decent defense, he would know that first off, he would make a huge difference, and secondly, with him in the team, the final part of the jigsaw would click

Royale with Cheese

Michael Ballack alone would not fix united's problems and I would see no reason for him to leave a far better team for United.

p.pete

PHB wrote:

The reason he might go to United is because he can recognise that he might make a huge difference there, i.e. the difference between the team being amazing and good, as it is now.
Since we have some fairly impressive talent up front, and a decent defense, he would know that first off, he would make a huge difference, and secondly, with him in the team, the final part of the jigsaw would click

How cute, the elusive missing link theory. Reckon he'll go somewhere with a bit more of a gaurantee as to how things will work out. I fully agree that United have excellent attacking options (not the best around but certainly very good). I agree that the midfield needs to be rebuilt however and the defence isn't looking great at the moment. I don't rate United higher then Bayern and I reckon Ballack will be aiming higher then that.

He certainly won't be going to Liverpool.

TheMonster

p.pete wrote:

. I don't rate United higher then Bayern and I reckon Ballack will be aiming higher then that.

Hardly expect a pool fan to. Most people would recognise Utd as a bigger club

SteM

Either him or his agent said recently that if he left Bayern it would be so he could be in with a chance of winning the CL. He'll probably do a Mickey Owen and go to Real while Bayern go on to win the Champions League the following season....

I'd expect him to end up at Real or Inter to be honest.

TheMonster

SteM wrote:

Either him or his agent said recently that if he left Bayern it would be so he could be in with a chance of winning the CL. He'll probably do a Mickey Owen and go to Real while Bayern go on to win the Champions League the following season....

I'd expect him to end up at Real or Inter to be honest.

Considering the winners of the last 2 CLs that doesn't narrow down his options much.

p.pete

TheMonster wrote:

Hardly expect a pool fan to. Most people would recognise Utd as a bigger club

Similar European pedigree, both are the largest clubs in their countries, both have excellent stadiums (though I'd take the Allianze Arena any day). Main differences I can see are that ManU have a larger global presence and on current form Bayern are the better football team. Hope I'm not letting my Liverpool supporting bias cloud my judgement here...

SteM

TheMonster wrote:

Considering the winners of the last 2 CLs that doesn't narrow down his options much.

Just passing on what his agent said is all.

Pepe LeFrits

If he goes to Real, I'd like to order one Baptista for Arsenal please!

Jivin Turkey

Congratulations TheMonster, two posts about Michael Ballacks contract and you managed to get a dig about Liverpool in each one.

applehunter

Whats so great about Ballack. Hes never stood out for me.

He scores goals from midfield, but so does Kevin Nolan.

TheMonster

An intelligent and on-topic post as usual Mr Turkey. My response to Pete was hardly a dig at Liverpool merely pointing out that a Liverpool fan mightn't be objective in assessing Utd as a big club.

I don't rate United higher then Bayern and I reckon Ballack will be aiming higher then that.

my response

Hardly expect a pool fan to. Most people would recognise Utd as a bigger club

if you can explain to me how this can be intepreted as a dig at Liverpool you have a strange interpretation of the English language and very different one to most peoples.

The 2nd post was a comment on the lack quality of the last 2 winners and prob could be interpreted as a dig at Liverpool(Not that I would be guilty of such a crime)

KdjaCL

Footballer says "go to bigger club" =" whoever has most money is the biggest club"


kdjac

Necronomicon

If he has to be convinced that United are 'good enough' for him, then he can go **** himself as far as I'm concerned.

Kingp35

He wont go to Man U. They might be a bigger club tham Munich in that they have the more fans are a bigger club globally but at the moment Man U are no where near the quality of Munich. Ballack will move to a club equal or better than Munich are the moment and that rules out Man U. He can see they just dont have the team at the moment to win anything so why would he want to join them?

The missing link theory is just pure optimism on the part of Man U fans

TheMonster

United with 2 top midfielders would be far better that Munich.(in fact take Ballack out of that team and it is very average)

Ballack would be one of them, a lot of the convicoing him to join will be to do with the other midfielder Fergie plans on signing.

masterK

All this talk of who is the biggest club is pointless as he won't necessarily go to the so called biggest club that are interested in him.

From the quotes attributed to him in the media where he talks of his next contract being his last big contract it is very likely that he will go to the highest bidder whether the are the 'Biggest Club' or not.

PHB

Let me explain what I mean.

Right now,
Arsenal and United are fairly equal in terms of how they are playing right?
So you've got Van Nist, and he wants to move to another club with a greater chance of winning.
Arsenal and United are fairly equal in these terms, but if Van Nist was playing for Arsenal, they would be unreal. He would make the difference. He would fill the what they've been missing, a goal poacher, who scores for no good reason.

The same situation applies to Ballack.
He understands football, knows an attacking creative midfielder would make all the difference for the United team, and realises that if he goes to United, he has the chance to take them to the upper upper levels.

BKtje

Thats a lot of speculating on what you think Ballack thinks (if ya get me).
I fear Ballack will go elsewhere like many of the other top players do but how i hope im wrong

p.pete

TheMonster wrote:

United with 2 top midfielders would be far better that Munich.(in fact take Ballack out of that team and it is very average)

Ballack would be one of them, a lot of the convicoing him to join will be to do with the other midfielder Fergie plans on signing.

So not just one player short of a complete squad as you were aluding to earlier? In fact "2" midfielders short and as I postulated earlier possibly not the healthiest ManU's defence has been in recent times.

Honestly I'm not trying to slate the health of ManU, certainly they're financially better then Liverpool with a stronger current squad and probably a stronger set of young players. Point is they're not closer to winning the CL then Bayern so this could act against them.

I personally wouldn't be surprised if Ballack goes there, I think a lot of the ground work might already be done and if AF can make him feel wanted enough which he's very good at then there's an excellent chance, we'll see.

Jivin Turkey

TheMonster wrote:

An intelligent and on-topic post as usual Mr Turkey. My response to Pete was hardly a dig at Liverpool merely pointing out that a Liverpool fan mightn't be objective in assessing Utd as a big club.

No what you said was that you would "hardly expect" one to be. As if one couldn't support Liverpool and be objective when talking about Manchester United. We all don't have the same problem you do.

TheMonster wrote:

The 2nd post was a comment on the lack quality of the last 2 winners and prob could be interpreted as a dig at Liverpool(Not that I would be guilty of such a crime)

Har har, I see your smiley now, you are obviously just joking..............

As regards Ballack, he is a super player and would be a brilliant addition to any squad. But I just don't think he is the type of player that should be United's priority at the minute. Having said that, players of his calibre don't come around too often, and even less so for free, so he would be a great signing, but not the end to their problems.