Manchester United Transfer Rumours/Discussion 2007

sprinkles

Tauren wrote:

hopefully we can get shot of him in the summer, i'm fed up with his injury breaks.
fingers crossed he's gone, and some one better is brought in.

I'd say that's the the last straw with him. Good player, sorry to see him go but his injuries are killing us.

homerjay2005

lads, i seriously hope we keep saha, i know its frustrating, but i think he has a lot to offer. i hope he gets one last chance next season. we all know tht fergie is looking to get another striker, that is why larsson came in, so if saha goes we need 2 and i cant see us buying 2 strikers. an alternative would be to sign a winger like nani and play either ronaldo/giggs up top, but that has its limitations.

rooney and saha was our number one partnership until the turn of the year, but what other striker can we look to to get goals next season? ole is pushing on and i think that he has had an exceptional season -12 goals and not many games. last season, is purely a sub role for him. dong? no thanks, loan him out i think? smith? he has lost the 10-15 goal touch that he had before fergie made him a midfielder. he is not going to score enough goals to play as an out and out striker, id either put him back as a back up midfielder or sell him.

that leaves rossi, i think he can definately hit 12 goals or more, if we keep him for the whole season. i cant understand why he was let go in january, though maybe it had something to do with the fact that his time at newcastle was a complete waste. frazier campbell is a player that should also get a chance in a few of the lesser games, he has hit nearly 20 league goals in belgium, however, a loan to a championship team, is more likely.

so it looks like fergie wants 5 strikers, with it being -

#1 - rooney,
#2 - saha/ if he is sold, then a really top striker (but who!?)
#3 - if saha stays, then a decent player like defoe
#4 - rossi
#5 - ole

PHB

Saha would be great, but he is constantly injured, constantly. I think he's top class, but if you are only top class for half the year, you might as well be an average player.

I don't think Fergie wants 5 strikers, he wants 4. He always talks about 4.
Ole is unfortuantely on his last legs, and next season will see him play even less.

First off, Defoe is not United standard. I'd rather Owen to Defoe.
Secondly, Rossi has had interest all over europe, and has 8 goals in 16 games (I think), and 3 assists there too. That's a great ratio.

I think Saha is gone, Fergie will be just too pissed off with him. I think a striker is our main priority (after Hargreaves)

If Saha is sold, and say Eto is bought (we can hope), it'll look like this

Eto
Rooney
Smith
Rossi
Ole

homerjay2005

i dont think eto is an option tbh.true, defoe is not united quality,but if he gets 15 goals as back up to the 2 main strikers, then why not go for him if available? fergie is a big big fan of his too. i wouldn pay more than £7-8 million though.

we all know that hargreaves is number one target, i have a feeling that bale is the second, so i wonder who is number 3 on fergies "3 targets"??.

Maybe that claim by senna (remember how close he was to signing!) that AIG only wanted british players signed, is true?

interesting articel in the irish indo yesterday, claims that we have virtually no money to spend in the summer due to debt etc, anybody believe that?

personally, i believe we have about £30 million available if needed, but we wont necessarily spend that. the last 2 summers have proven that. the re expected rearrivals of the likes of rossi, evans, pique and foster should be like signing 4 quality players, all of whom have had excellent loan experiences. if any of those were sold, then we could get great money for them. i hope they all stay for at least 1 season to see that they are like. there are another 10 players out on loan, they will all return too, 5 or 6 will prob be sold.

so that means that some players will leave, but whom? personally, i feel that silvestre, richardson, smith, dong (though a loan is prob the best), bardsley and a few more of the younger lads are all surplus to requirements and could net us £15 million or more. add in the likes of chris eagles, kieran lee, frazier cambell, danny simpson, lee martin and adam exkersley and you begin to see that united senior squad is over 35 players. theres alot of talent being wasted there, by players not getting a chance. some of them could provoid revenue.

but things are never that straight forward at united are they?!

PHB

i dont think eto is an option tbh.

Well either him or Ronaldinho are gona leave Barca, and I think it'll be him. He has fallen out with the club bigtime.

true, defoe is not united quality,but if he gets 15 goals as back up to the 2 main strikers, then why not go for him if available? fergie is a big big fan of his too. i wouldn pay more than £7-8 million though.

I don't think Defoe is any better than Rossi to be honest.

interesting articel in the irish indo yesterday, claims that we have virtually no money to spend in the summer due to debt etc, anybody believe that?

It's possible. We'll have to see. The Glazier's have yet to prove themselves in the transfer market in terms of funding.

In terms of who will leave, Slyvestre and Richardson have been told they were staying, so it's not them.
[/quote]

leninbenjamin

PHB wrote:

In terms of who will leave, Slyvestre and Richardson have been told they were staying, so it's not them.

ffs...

if Silvestre stays it will maybe mean John o Shea leaving (edit: not that will be a bad thing).

Im_No_Superman

I dont see Eto in a united shirt next season either, dont think we can afford him.
Wouldnt like to see Defoe either, i think he is pretty average. I see Benni McCarthy wants out of blackburn, i think he would be a decent signing maybe try do a swap deal involving Smith. Id be inclined to give Saha one more season as in fairness he was doing quite well up untill he turned to glass again! A front four of Rooney, Rossi, Saha and McCarthy would not be too shabby in my eyes.

Baggly

And if Larsson proved anything, its that we need a bit of experience up front alongside Rooney and Ronaldo

leninbenjamin

LOTP wrote:

And if Larsson proved anything, its that we need a bit of experience up front alongside Rooney and Ronaldo

dya not have that in solskjaer though?

homerjay2005

from reading around on a few united forums, everybody seems to be in agreement that bale and hargreaves are shoe-ins to be signed. we all know what hargreaves offers, but what are the opinions on Bale?

i was at the ireland game that he played in and he wasnt great, though in the run up to that game, there was talks of injuries and burn out and he was replaced on the hour, so its hard to judge on that, im watchin the game now v derby and he seems to be getting alot of attention from derby. he is a dead ball specialist, takes most of their corners and free kicks. that is a bonus and something that united do lack. however, do we really need another left back? maybe fergie is eyeing him up for the left wing instead of giggs? if not then we really do not need him, as evra, heinze and even John O shea proviod enough cover in that position. not fortgetting johnny evans can slot in there too.

which brings me to my next question for PHB, where did you hear that richardson and silvestre and guaranteed to stay??? cos i never heard that. can i say for sure that either will leave? no i cant, because they should have been sold long ago, but they should be sold. one thing i can say for sure though, is that john o shea and fletcher, WILL NEVER BE SOLD!!! so there is no point discussing it. john o shea was been risen to legend status this season with the 2 goals on merseyside and playing in nearly every possible postion. fletcher has been excellent in a few very big games.

homerjay2005

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=466230&CPID=8&clid=5&lid=3&title=McCarthy+eyes+Ewood+exit

didnt reliase this, maybe another option? 3rd top scorer this season in the laegue. chelsea would surely be favourites though given the maureen-o connection.

Baggly

leninbenjamin wrote:

dya not have that in solskjaer though?

Sorry, let me rephrase that....experience but with legs to play week in week out.

johnor

I think there is a possibility bale could be a left winger, if not evra certainly could be... hope southampton dont come up, more likely he'll go then. I dunno how safe o'sheas place in squad is just cause he scored against pool, i remember diego getting a few against pool for us too... o'shea is really our only utility man tho. I hope richardson goes, the guy just annoys me now. I dunno if we can afford to let silvestre go, depends on how fergie judged evans time at sunderland and piques at zaragoza, i think pique might want to stay there. Everyone saw how thin we were at the back at the end of this season, ok it was alot of freak injurys but all the same. Up front we need an out and out striker, someone like defoe or owen. a fox in the box for want of a better word. I think saha is on his way like it or not.. Smith offers something different, he will stay. Rossi again I dunno, fergie might be wondering why he wasnt put in at newcastle when they were fairly down on strikers, he was put in at parma but they struggled all season i believe. I dunno how suited he would be to the premiership, might be too physical for him, still he had a natural talent, fergie compared him to scholes' natural finishin early on...

to sumarise:
outs: Richardson, Saha
ins: Bale, Haregreaves, Goal getter!

herbieflowers

PHB wrote:

I don't think it's that United don't have the stamina, we did it against Roma, it's just you need someone who can grab hold of the game and set the tone.

Perhaps Man U overdid against Roma. Of course itwas stamina, the bar in the Premiership has been set so high by Chelsea that this season every game was a must win...the squad was stretched, the same players playing week in week out, even making the PL difficult for themselves - the horrendous result against Portsmouth and the Middlesboro game at OT - didn't do the squad any favours, it just increased the pressure. When a team plays som amny games at such an intensity, every game as important as the next, it's bound to have a detrimental effect on stamina levels. Milan getting in our faces made it even more difficult, added to the conditions...it's bloody difficult to dig deep in those sorts of circumstances.

PHB

ffs...

if Silvestre stays it will maybe mean John o Shea leaving (edit: not that will be a bad thing).

O'Shea is gona stay, he is the new Phil Neville.
Brown is going to be leaving, and to be honest, I think Heinze could be gone too.
Reports from everywhere suggest that United are bringing back all our loan players, like Pique and Evans, to provide cover, which means those other players must be getting sold.

I see Benni McCarthy wants out of blackburn, i think he would be a decent signing maybe try do a swap deal involving Smith.

That wouldn't be the worst deal in the world, but McCarthy would be coming as at min 3rd choice, and imo 4th choice striker. I can't imagine he'd be that good not playing week in week out, and to be honest, he's not an amazing player.

Id be inclined to give Saha one more season as in fairness he was doing quite well up untill he turned to glass again!

If he had shown that he could get fit again sure, but the fact that he can't get past his own mind to play in an FA Cup final says it all really.

where did you hear that richardson and silvestre and guaranteed to stay??? cos i never heard that. can i say for sure that either will leave? no i cant, because they should have been sold long ago, but they should be sold.

I'd like to see them gone, but
http://home.skysports.com/player.aspx?plid=1851&clid=1&cpid=8

"I still have two years left on my contract and the manager did everything to keep me here last summer," Silvestre told the Daily Star Sunday.

"He even told me recently he still has confidence in me, so I can confirm that I will be in Manchester next year."

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=465042&plid=15073&clid=1&cpid=8

Richardson is also looking forward to a long-term future at United.

"The manager has always told me I'm part of his plans," he added.

"When someone like the gaffer tells you that, you really feel good and want to be part of it all.

"I'd like to think I am part of United's future. No player wants to leave here. No player wants to leave the biggest club in the world."

one thing i can say for sure though, is that john o shea and fletcher, WILL NEVER BE SOLD!!! so there is no point discussing it. john o shea was been risen to legend status this season with the 2 goals on merseyside and playing in nearly every possible postion. fletcher has been excellent in a few very big games.

I think O'Shea has matured a lot this year. Fletcher has really started to raise his game to another level, now let's just hope he can start to get some consistency, and he'll become the player that Fergie, Keane, Ole, all of Scotland thought he would become.

fergie might be wondering why he wasnt put in at newcastle when they were fairly down on strikers, he was put in at parma but they struggled all season i believe.

Newcastle were idiots not to play him, just plain old idiots.
Rossi for Parma, 16 games, 7 goals, 3 assist.

herbieflowers

Yeah Rossi's character has to be admired, duff (pun intended) of the Toon, goes back to a struggling Parma and is revitalised. Hopefully he has what it takes and he'll realise his potential at Man U.

I'm just thinking from a monetary perspective. Let's say there's 30m to spend. Up to 18 of that 30 could be spent on Hargreaves leaving 12m. The sale of players won't generate too much cash so there's roughly 20m to spend on a winger and top class striker? If Bayern hold Man U to ransom and demand 18m, which is ridiculous he's nowhere near worth that much, I'd say Sidwell could sneak in as a possibility. Certainly can play that roel, can tackle, has energy, everything that Hargreaves has - and he'#s made the step up to the PL and had a year's experience.

Im_No_Superman

If we are buying someone to play on the left wing (which we need) i would much prefer we went for someone like Pederson or even this Nani guy rather than trying to convert Bale or Evra. I dont think Evra's delivery is good enough in the final third to be a winger anyways.

PHB

I agree, but in terms of money, I think if we are signing a big name striker, it will have to be partly funded by the sale of somebody, most likely Saha.

herbieflowers

It'll all come down to funds (not stating the obvious!)

johnor

Think you can forget sidwell, skysports saying hes getting a medical at chelski

homerjay2005

totally off topic, but here is a question for ye. if you play in the uefa cup, does that mean you are cup tied for the champions league if you transfer to another club??im talking about the same season of course.

Vokes

Don't think so.

Mascherano played for WHU in Uefa Cup and then for Liverpool in CL.

johnor

but u cant play cl then uefa, cos they are linked.... u can play uefa then champ league

homerjay2005

SofaKing wrote:

Don't think so.

Mascherano played for WHU in Uefa Cup and then for Liverpool in CL.

exactly, thats what i was getting at!

maybe johnor is right, but if that is the case its crazy, i thought that once you play a european game, your tied to that club for the year, no matter if its even intertoto.

Bodhidharma

I think Saha is a goner. There have been rumours floating around for months about his "injuries". From what i head its all in his mind. Fergie wanted him to play against Milan and he wouldn't, saying he was injured, despite physio's saying otherwise. The guy can be a good player but he isn't mentally strong enough to stay. To be honest i'd be happy to see the back of him.

I think Heinze could be out the door too. Waited a long time to play a run of games and when he did he made some errors.

About Eto, i cant see it happening. AC Milan are supposed to be offering 100million euro for Ronaldinho, according to spanish football on Sky, and that would mean him out. Etoo is a bit of a handfull too, big ego.

I want Hargreaves. I'd love Berbatov. If i was fergie i would look at Owen and Defoe. Personally i'd like a big man up front. I'm a huge Fiorentina fan too and considering Luca Toni is going to Bayern for 12m i think he would have done a great job for utd.

Out - Saha, Heinze, Richardson, Maybe Smith
In - Hargreaves (15m), Defoe (8m), Bale (10m)

PHB

Defoe would be a horrible signing, i'd be quite upset by it.
He is the worst of the three Spurs strikers.

Sidwell will become another Parker, hasn't got a hope at Chelsea.
He's behind
Lampard
Ballack
Makelele
Essien
Mikel
Diarra

Good luck getting any games

johnor

Well makaele will be phased out think they even started it this year... Essien and Mikel will be at the african nations at some stage during the year so I know what you mean as in why hes so far down the pecking order but I think thats why they have signed him, quite a catch, think he is much better signing then the one they got for free last yr!

Im_No_Superman

johnor wrote:

Well makaele will be phased out think they even started it this year... Essien and Mikel will be at the african nations at some stage during the year so I know what you mean as in why hes so far down the pecking order but I think thats why they have signed him, quite a catch, think he is much better signing then the one they got for free last yr!

Yeah I dont think Makaele will feature much for chelsea next year. I would be very wary of us trying to sign Owen as how do we know he wont be as inury prone as Saha? He hasnt played many games in the last two years.

leninbenjamin

Bodhidharma wrote:

I think Saha is a goner. There have been rumours floating around for months about his "injuries". From what i head its all in his mind. Fergie wanted him to play against Milan and he wouldn't, saying he was injured, despite physio's saying otherwise. The guy can be a good player but he isn't mentally strong enough to stay. To be honest i'd be happy to see the back of him.

the one thing i'll say about that is.... sometimes a player is the best judge. look at what happened Ballack. the medical team there missed a splinter of bone or something floating around, when he came back from Germany he had the bit that was extracted along with him to show them just how wrong they were!

but then again you do have hypochondriacs... it's hard to know really from a distance.

sprinkles

That's a one off. The physio's aren't going to get it wrong all the time. I think saha is just so afraid of his injuries now that he not willing to chance it. It's definitely been the ruin of his united career, he's a good player but I think he has to go.

homerjay2005

SSN are reporting that we are defo after Owen for 11 million, im not so sure though if fergie would take a risk so soon after such a serious injury. its probably just usual paper trash.

anyway, what will the team be today, is Gary Neville fit? does anybody know what is going to happen as regards medal presentation?

During the Chelsea match, Andy Grey said that it works out as follows - United get 21 medals and 19 players have qualified (played 10 games or more) leaving 2. Smith, Tommy Kuz and Henrik Larsson are 3 that deserve a medal IMO.

1 - Van Der Sar
2 - Neville
3 - Evra
4 - Rio
5 - Browne
6 - Vidic
7 - Silvestre
8 - Heinze
9 - O Shea
10 - Ronaldo
11 - Scholes
12 - Carrick
13 - Giggs
14 - Park
15 - Richardson
16 - Fletcher
17 - Saha
18 - Rooney
19 - Ole

if what Andy Gray said is true, then there is a tough tough decision to make if one of the extra 3 needs to loose out, it would probably be larsson. He is the guest of honour today, wonder will he be on the pitch?

PHB

SSN are reporting that we are defo after Owen for 11 million, im not so sure though if fergie would take a risk so soon after such a serious injury. its probably just usual paper trash.

anyway, what will the team be today, is Gary Neville fit? does anybody know what is going to happen as regards medal presentation?

Neville is going to lift the trophy.
Every summer we are after Owen, every summer it doesn't materialise. We'll see, but I can't see any reason why there would be a clause in his contract, and I can't see any reason why Newcastle would sell cheap.

I personally would give the extra two to Smith and Kuzack, then get a special one made for Larrson.
Larrson was great and all, but he was only at the club for a short time.
Smith and the pole are long termers and deserve it more imo.

I've always wondered, I assume Fergie gets a medal, but does Quirez and the rest of the coaching staff?

leninbenjamin

PHB wrote:

I personally would give the extra two to Smith and Kuzack, then get a special one made for Larrson.

I read somewhere that's exactly what's gonna happen.

Owen for Saha would be a complete waste of time. It'll take Owen a good while before he can get back to the way he was playing (just like Heinze). Maybe in January if he's having a good season, but don't go near him with a barge pole now. let some other club waste their time giving him the match practice he needs.

homerjay2005

http://www.redcafe.net/showthread.php?t=155576

sorry i dont have the original link, but take a look at this thread on redcafe anyway, an excellent insight into ronaldo.

LegacyUser

Superb article...when is that documentary comign out?

Mitch Connor

SofaKing wrote:

Don't think so.

Mascherano played for WHU in Uefa Cup and then for Liverpool in CL.

I don't think Mascherano played in the Uefa for West Ham, i thought he was injured at the time.

Mark

He played against Palermo in the preliminary round.

homerjay2005

just heard from a friend that rossi has scored 2 in the first half of parmas vital relegation game in seria a. thats now 9 league goals for him since january.

PHB

Rossi, what a prospect

Today was just great

Sizzler

PHB wrote:

Rossi, what a prospect

Today was just great

It was undoubtedley a great day and to collect that trophy was sweet

But call me fussy but I was seriously pi*sed off with the result and the lack of cutting edge. To end the season in front of our home fans with such a shoddy result against (almost) relegation fodder really annoyed me :mad:
In the final analysis we lost 5 games....2 teams did the double over us...one of those teams was pure shoite.

I know the game didnt mean much really but just as well we didnt need to win it or we would have had a major problem on our hands
Heres hoping they get their act together for next week and Im sure it will be a different team.

herbieflowers

well it was a weakened side, depsite Fergie's claims that it was gonna be otherwise...they'll be up for the final, it'll be interesting to see if Man U can impose themselves on Chelsea because since Mourinho took over, quite frankly, they haven't been able to dictate against them, their record vs them shows that. Hopefully that can be rectified somewhat with a win on Saturday!

Sizzler

How could Fergie claim to keep "integrity" in the premiership when he played Kieran Richardson

herbieflowers

haha, yeah. I hate Richardson.

Im_No_Superman

Great to see the Premiership back at its rightful home today! Not a great performance but not the worst either, I think a draw would have been a fair result. What do you reckon the team for the cup final will be? I reckon Brown has played himself into right back after his last two performances and I reckon Gabby will play left back due to Evras lack of arieal ability and the chances of drogba attaching himself to him.
So I reckon it will be:

---

Van Der Saar

---

--Brown

---

Rio

---

Vidic

---

Heinze

---

Carrick

---

Fletcher

---

--Ronaldo

---

Scholes

---

Giggs

---

---

Rooney

---

Mitch Connor

I honestly think Smith has to start on Saturday is we actually want to score. Rooney is not a lead the line striker, and will get swallowed up by Essien and Terry at the back if we leave him up top on his own - we need to play with two forwards so Rooney doesn't get isolated. Playing Smith would also better enable us to defend from the front, and stop Essien bombing on to join the midfield, Smith has had him in his pocket once already ( )

So, out of the above team, i would drop fletcher, and hope scholes doesn't have a 'mare, cause we'll need both him and carrick to be at their best (particularly carrick - don't want lampard getting free space around the box)

It'll be a very tough game; but it should be a good one too; hopefully my dads first trip to wembley ends in disappointment (dirty chelsea fan!)

PHB

We didn't play with Smith against Milan at home, and scored twice.

I think the team is gona be

---

VDS

---

--Brown

---

Rio

---

Vidic

---

Evra--

---

Carrick

---

Fletcher

---

---Ronaldo

---

Scholes

---

Giggs---

---

Rooney

---

Personally, I'd rather we play a 4-4-2, but I expect that 4-2-3-1.

Rossi's first goal is a peach, it's on youtube.

ntlbell

cheesedude wrote:

Superb article...when is that documentary comign out?

it's on you tube

Aquos76

PHB wrote:

Rossi's first goal is a peach, it's on youtube.

Rossi's first and second goal yesterday

Aquos76

ntlbell wrote:

it's on you tube

And here it is

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Pity its in portuguese though

DubDani

According to the German media and some Bayern Munich sources the Transfer of Owen Hargraves to Manchester United has been finalised. Manu pays appearantly 25 million Euro plus extra payments depending on Titles. The whole transfer fee could go to up to 31 million euro.

Bayern want to build a new team, and have already signed Luca Toni from Fiorentina (to be unveiled this week). According to the Bayern Managment they have 120 (!!) million euro available for transfers.