Fergie to Spend Big In The summer

The Muppet

He certainly sounds a likely candidate. It will be very interesting to see united and Chelsea go head to head for a player both really want.

Atlas_IRL

I think Rilqueme(sp?) would be a brilliant signing for United.. he's class

Dr Galen

now being a liverpool fan, in one way it gives me immense pleasure to see utd slip, but as a football supporter in general i think it may be detrimental to English football if they cease to be any sort of force in Europe.

I so think though that the season should be Fergie's last. Utd need a major rebuilding job. People have spoken about needing a winger and a central midfielder but i think that the team in general lacks the quality it once had. O'shea, Silvestre, Brown, Smith, Richardson and Saha couldn't hold a torch to the players of the recent past Utd teams. Obviously it will take time to weed out this deadwood (belive me we have our own crew at Anfield) but this is very much a transitional time for the team.

Would it not be better for Fergie to stand aside gracefully and let a new man (Capello?? O'Neill??) in to spend the money and build his own team the way he wants it? He has been a great servant to the club and the league in general and this is how he should be remembered, not as someone who stayed past his day

Dr Galen

actaully, what cover do they have for Van Nistelrooy and Rooney?? All the big clubs now have 3 good strikers on the books. Apart from that young lad who do they have???

Lemlin

nurse_baz wrote:

actaully, what cover do they have for Van Nistelrooy and Rooney?? All the big clubs now have 3 good strikers on the books. Apart from that young lad who do they have???

Luis Saha. Do you have a clue what you're talking about? He's scored in two recent games, how could you forget him?

Not to mention Alan Smith, who should be playing as a striker. If anything, they have too many strikers and are being forced to play one in midfield.

Hopefully Ole will be back soon too. United probably have a better strikeforce and backup than any team in England, Chelsea included.

Dr Galen

Lemlin wrote:

Luis Saha. Do you have a clue what you're talking about? He's scored in two recent games, how could you forget him?

Not to mention Alan Smith, who should be playing as a striker. If anything, they have too many strikers and are being forced to play one in midfield.

Hopefully Ole will be back soon too. United probably have a better strikeforce and backup than any team in England, Chelsea included.

u make a good point about Smith alright man, i keep thinking of him as the converted midfielder that fergie wants him to be. I agree his best position and where he should be is up front.
Saha i don't agree with, maybe its just personal taste but i don;t really think much of him, didn't even when he was at Fulham to be honest. Time will tell i guess.
Ole looks to be back tho but i'm talking more of a long term view. he's 31 or 32 now ain't he? Will he really still be as good in 2 years time? My point wasn't meant as a criticism i actually was interested to know who u had apart from Rossi?

Atlas_IRL

Liverpool have poor forwards compared to united...

RVN, Rooney, Rossi, OGS, Saha and Smith if u class him as a striker... they dont need any more

One of the best in the world imo...

too bad the midfield and defence is ****e

dcarroll

The Rooster wrote:

I'm shocked that MU havent bought a midfielder in January. Still time I suppose. Appreciate that their main targets are unavailable till the summer, but a couple of mill on a stop-gap would be money well spent.

Unless they're going to do a conversion job on Vidic - or Rio!

Anyone watching the Burton match now, Rio just came on, think you might be right

PHB

RoRoRo is the future

dcarroll

I hope one of them Ro's doesnt stand for Ronaldo

gsand

rossi i think he means

PHB

Rossi-Rooney-Ronaldo

In 3 years time, after the great Ruud leaves us, this will be one of the best attack forces in the entire world.

jank

Maybe Rossi, but Ronaldo is crap.#d like to see more of the Italain fella but without getting hyped up about him.

gracehopper

nurse_baz wrote:

now being a liverpool fan, in one way it gives me immense pleasure to see utd slip, but as a football supporter in general i think it may be detrimental to English football if they cease to be any sort of force in Europe.

I so think though that the season should be Fergie's last. Utd need a major rebuilding job. People have spoken about needing a winger and a central midfielder but i think that the team in general lacks the quality it once had. O'shea, Silvestre, Brown, Smith, Richardson and Saha couldn't hold a torch to the players of the recent past Utd teams. Obviously it will take time to weed out this deadwood (belive me we have our own crew at Anfield) but this is very much a transitional time for the team.

Would it not be better for Fergie to stand aside gracefully and let a new man (Capello?? O'Neill??) in to spend the money and build his own team the way he wants it? He has been a great servant to the club and the league in general and this is how he should be remembered, not as someone who stayed past his day

Agree with all of this. Good post for a liverpool fan, ha ha..

Big Nelly

jank wrote:

Maybe Rossi, but Ronaldo is crap.#d like to see more of the Italain fella but without getting hyped up about him.

yeah Ronaldo is brutal, thats why 99% of the clubs in the World he would walk into the First team. If he is so brutal then Shef Wed will take him, we dont mind playing "crap" players. Would be in PL in one season with him

Chucky the tree

Big Nelly wrote:

yeah Ronaldo is brutal, thats why 99% of the clubs in the World he would walk into the First team. If he is so brutal then Shef Wed will take him, we dont mind playing "crap" players. Would be in PL in one season with him

Hes crap by united stanards to be honest. If he was there second choice winger he would be fine. He needs a good few years before hes good i think, same as ROssi. He too far away from being the finished article. United should be playing player who are at there peak, not someone who will be there in a few years. He wouldnt go anywhere near united starting 11 when they were winning all those premierships and fa cups.

I would of bought him then loaned him back to lisbon for a year or two.

el rabitos

yeah Ronaldo is brutal, thats why 99% of the clubs in the World he would walk into the First team.

talking through ur ass there mate. 100% of the top teams in the world expect an end product from their wingers, something ronaldo doesnt do very well at all

the fact that he can dribble past every player on the pitch is commendable, but 9 times out of 10 the ball ends up in the stands or in the possesion of the opposing team, which renders his ability as a waste in my book

PHB

Lads seriously, we can have this argument about 50 times and make no progress, only time will tell who is right.

Gegerty

Time already has told and he's a waste of space and a complete let down 90% of the time. Yea his Dad died and he was accused of rape, but what was his excuse last season? how many seasons does he need? we need a winger that'll pass the ball NOW, there's no time to wait to see him fruition into this fantasy player people are talking about. He's a glory hunter, that's his style and always will be. He doesn't belong in the united squad.

The Muppet

Gegerty wrote:

Time already has told and he's a waste of space and a complete let down 90% of the time. Yea his Dad died and he was accused of rape, but what was his excuse last season? how many seasons does he need? we need a winger that'll pass the ball NOW, there's no time to wait to see him fruition into this fantasy player people are talking about. He's a glory hunter, that's his style and always will be. He doesn't belong in the united squad.

YAWN.

Hobart

Originally Posted by Fergie
"when the club was a PLC you had to go through certain procedures to sign players. you had to firstly go to the clubs board, then the Plc Board, then the stock exchange and all that nonsense. Now you dont have to bother with all that nonsense. If you want to do something David Gill just picks up the phone to the Glaziers and we get an answer. From my perspective they have supported me 100%

I see Fergie is posting on boards now :rolleyes:

Lemlin wrote:

Looks like you were right in your comments a while back that you were lambasted on here for. I seem to remember you saying that United would have it easier to make signings now but alot of people disagreeing.

I seem to remeber his argument being a bit different than you. Namely that "If there is one advantage to not being a public company it is that they can do their business in private without alerting their nearest competitors of their intentions., which is absoloute rubbish of course.

PHB

Does anything about this make sense?

Manchester United chief executive David Gill has admitted the club's priority is to bring in a top class central midfielder, but does not expect the position to be filled in the January transfer window.

Sir Alex Ferguson has eased his defensive troubles somewhat by bagging Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra - with the latter looking particularly assured during Sunday's win over Liverpool.

However, the lack of a physical presence in the middle of the park has been apparent at Old Trafford since the injury to and later departure of Roy Keane.

Ferguson is aware he needs to bring in a midfield driving force and has been linked with a host of names including Thomas Gravesen, Michael Ballack and Mahamadou Diarra.

Gill is aware of the situation and says the priority will be to fill the void left by Keane's departure to Celtic, but suggests the Scot will have to paper over the cracks until the summer.

"We all know the next players we buy have to be top class talent in the midfield area, but I think it will be unlikely to see a permanent solution to that identified in the next ten days," Gill told MUTV.

Gill claims the Glazer Family are fully behind Ferguson, citing the captures of Vidic and Evra as evidence of this.

"We have acquired two exciting talents in this transfer window in Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra and that demonstrates their commitment," he added.

1. Announce we desperately need 2 midfielders
2. Announce we are going to do it in the summer
3. Announce we are going to pay top dollar for them

Why in the world would Utd do that? I can think of two reasons only,

1. To sate the fans, as they have been demanding new midfielders non stop
OR
2. To divert attention from the midfielder attempting to be bought right now.

I doubt United care enough about 1. to increase the price of any midfielder we go for in the summer, so I think 2. is a distinct possibility.

Hobart

PHB wrote:

1. To sate the fans, as they have been demanding new midfielders non stop
OR
2. To divert attention from the midfielder attempting to be bought right now.

I doubt United care enough about 1. to increase the price of any midfielder we go for in the summer, so I think 2. is a distinct possibility.

Why would it not increase the price of the midfielder now? Why only in the summer? Infact with the world cup coming up it would be a foolish move for any real top class midfielder to move at this stage. The other side of that coin is if the likes of Ballack have a good world cup, his value rises.

Anyhow the world and his dog now that Manu are currently chasing a world class midfielder, the price will be set on that basis wheter it's now of 5 months down the line.

Vokes

Ballack's value is dropping all the time. I mean, he still hasn't signed a new contract with Munich, has he?

Hobart

SofaKing wrote:

Ballack's value is dropping all the time. I mean, he still hasn't signed a new contract with Munich, has he?

He has not signed an extension on his contract, it does not necessarily follow that his value plummets either. Players of his calibre who go on a free, though rare, normally make up the difference in their singing on fee and wages.

However he has expressed a preference for going to a team that will challange for the CL trophy over the next 2-3 seasons. That serverly limits his choices in the UK to Liverpool and maybe, Chelsea and certainly knocks ManU out of the picture.

BKtje

What about Arsenal? Arent they still going strong in Europe albeit somewhat weak in the league. That said Liverpool werent setting the league alight last year and still managed to win the CL.
Dont rule em out.

PHB

Ballack is gone to Real Madrid, I thought everybody knew this by now.
It was fairly clear when Fergie came out and said 'Yeh, em, we don't want him' that he had already signed for Madrid.

Hobart

PHB wrote:

Ballack is gone to Real Madrid, I thought everybody knew this by now.
It was fairly clear when Fergie came out and said 'Yeh, em, we don't want him' that he had already signed for Madrid.

Has he actually signed a contract with them?

yop

Wasn't the Ballack to Madrid only paper talk?

Hobart

B-K-DzR wrote:

What about Arsenal? Arent they still going strong in Europe albeit somewhat weak in the league. That said Liverpool werent setting the league alight last year and still managed to win the CL.
Dont rule em out.

Yea I suppose the Arsenal would be an option (My CL comments were made in jest BTW;) of course Manu are a contender). As for Liverpool, midfield is far from their priority at the moment, a little bit further up the pitch is where they need change.

Hobart

yop wrote:

Wasn't the Ballack to Madrid only paper talk?

I very much thought so. I've just done a google and no confirmation bar the usual rumour mills.

The Muppet

Hobart wrote:

I've just done a google and no confirmation bar the usual rumour mills.

How far down the list are you now?:D


Its a bit like the Staunton to be Ireland manager story. Everyone knows its going to happen but until the announcemnet is made it can not be proven.

Hobart

The Muppet wrote:

How far down the list are you now?:D


Its a bit like the Staunton to be Ireland manager story. Everyone knows its going to happen but until the announcemnet is made it can not be proven.

Most of us don't have your media contacts Tom . It's not proof I'm after, just the usual facts!!:D

The Muppet

Hobart wrote:

Most of us don't have your media contacts Tom . It's not proof I'm after, just the usual facts!!:D

No school today bart?;)

Hobart

The Muppet wrote:

No school today bart?;)

Now Now Tom, this is not MSN and I'm not a 16 year old Thai girl. Leave your flirtations to IRC and get back on topic, or ask Fergie to log back in and give us another unsubstantiated claim. :rolleyes:

yop

I spotted this on the auld Google.

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-235/0601209467181940.htm

So maybe Sven and Villa can jump in now and offer a contract

Hobart

yop wrote:

I spotted this on the auld Google.

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-235/0601209467181940.htm

So maybe Sven and Villa can jump in now and offer a contract

Lol, from the Islamic Republic News Agency, the cornerstone of international transfer speculation.

yop

Hey, the Islamic fundamentalists know as much about football as the rest of us.

PHB

:rolleyes:

I'd imagine with O'shea out injured, De Jong could well become a top priority

yop

He is on a free in summer isn't he?