Manchester United Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - Mod Note in OP, 13/8

Vic Vinegar

StarshipPooper wrote: »

Interesting excerpt from James Ducker's latest tour diary



http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/football/article4157831.ece

Just about to post that, seems he failed the first test anyway!

Donnielighto

dahat wrote: »

Push him as a marquee signing if we fail to add proper quality to midfield, masking failures in the market again. Only a thought rather than something concrete.

Ah I can't see that happening. If LvG doesn't want him he wont play him. Look at the riquelme issue when he was at barca.

RobertKK

I will be shot...I thought Ashley Young played really well against LA Galaxy.
Maybe LVG will get him back to his best?

dahat

Donnielighto wrote: »

Ah I can't see that happening. If LvG doesn't want him he wont play him. Look at the riquelme issue when he was at barca.

I hope it doesn't but it seems possible midfield options are slipping by for one reason or another.

DrPhilG

redbaron_99 wrote: »

It's not a point of what the current players are capable of. No matter how they do in pre season, we need more centre backs.
It's a problem of mathematics and not quality.

True, but how the players perform in pre season will decide whether he's shopping for big money first choice centre backs, or young players with potential. He doesn't yet know whether he wants to out faith in Jones for example.

NUTZZ

So with Bebe gone today this is how we look so far;

---

In: Luke Shaw - Southampton - £34m

Ander Herrera - Athletic Bilbao - £29m

Vanja Milinkovic - FK Vojvodina - Undisclosed

Out: Bebe - Benfica - Undisclosed

Alexander Buttner - Dinamo Moscow - £5.6m

Nemanja Vidic - Inter Milan - Free

Patrice Evra - Juventus - £1.2m

Federico Macheda - Cardiff City - Free

Jack Barmby - Leicester City - Free

Rio Ferdinand - QPR - Free

Ryan Giggs - Retired

Louis Rowley - Leicester - Free

Will I Amnt

RobertKK wrote: »

I will be shot...I thought Ashley Young played really well against LA Galaxy.
Maybe LVG will get him back to his best?

If Ashley Young could take a second to look up and see where players are moving to before he crosses he could still be a useful player. There could be 3 lads at the front post and he'd still hit for the far post. It's always an area for him, never the man. That's probably the only real problem I have with him.

Lord TSC

The offical United twitter account says the Bebe deal was up to €3m, and we also have 50% of any sell-on fee.

Ignoring how much we paid for him, that's not a bad bit of business...

Son Of A Vidic

adox wrote: »

I think I'd cry if Utd wasted money on Cavani.

Amen.

Zico

RobertKK wrote: »

I will be shot...I thought Ashley Young played really well against LA Galaxy.
Maybe LVG will get him back to his best?

No.

He's the type who will switch on for an occasion but is unreliable long term.

I'm impressed that he was able to 'Shop Window' but he's just as useless as Nani long term.

Donnielighto

dahat wrote: »

I hope it doesn't but it seems possible midfield options are slipping by for one reason or another.

Whether they do or not I cant see Ed signing Cavani (or anyone else for that matter) without LvG's consent.

Mitch Connor

My personal opinion is that despite the big talk from Woodward, united are failing to sign any more of LVGs targets. Whether it is because we are being rejected by the player straight up or getting cheap again, I don't know, but I think it us evident there are problems on the transfer front again. It is simply unbelievable that LVG simply doesn't want any players signed right now.

duffman13

I really hope Bebe is an outrageous success with Benfica. Decent business with the sell on clause!

Donnielighto

Lord TSC wrote: »

The offical United twitter account says the Bebe deal was up to €3m, and we also have 50% of any sell-on fee.

Ignoring how much we paid for him, that's not a bad bit of business...

If they insert a sell on clause like that would we get a piece of the piece?

Donnielighto

Zico wrote: »

No.

He's the type who will switch on for an occasion but is unreliable long term.

I'm impressed that he was able to 'Shop Window' but he's just as useless as Nani long term.

I think if nani plays he'll be very good.

bucketybuck

homerjay2005 wrote: »

we really should have 2 more defenders signed by now, the club have had 3 months to prepare for Vidic and Rio for instance.

Unfortunately every summer somebody at the club pushes a big red "Reset" button and everything has to start from scratch.

homerjay2005

Lord TSC wrote: »

The offical United twitter account says the Bebe deal was up to €3m, and we also have 50% of any sell-on fee.

Ignoring how much we paid for him, that's not a bad bit of business...

he is a player who last season scored 14 top flight goals in portugal. I would have expected him to fetch around £5m.

For that price its an excellent deal for Benfica

Zico

Donnielighto wrote: »

I think if nani plays he'll be very good.

He played the other night.

Do you think he played very good?

Lord TSC

homerjay2005 wrote: »

he is a player who last season scored 14 top flight goals in portugal. I would have expected him to fetch around £5m.

For that price its an excellent deal for Benfica

He's a player who has barely played for us since we signed him, who we wanted rid of and who, despite doing well in Portugal, still saw his team bottom of the table. Was never going to sell for that much, but at least the 50% sell on clause means if he does continue to improve and moves, we'll likely hit the 5m at some point anyway...

Saucy McKetchup

Bebe and Buttner, Couldn't get in the United team, both play in the champions league next season:mad:

Donnielighto

Zico wrote: »

He played the other night.

Do you think he played very good?

you know what, you're right, James should be starting every game.

We've seen enough from 1 pre season game against La Galaxy where there were 9 changes made to the UTD team at half time to make assessments on players futures.

Jog on.

Donnielighto

homerjay2005 wrote: »

he is a player who last season scored 14 top flight goals in portugal. I would have expected him to fetch around £5m.

For that price its an excellent deal for Benfica

The 50% sell on clause should be worth a lot more than 2M if he keeps up that level of performance though.

Donnielighto

Saucy McKetchup wrote: »

Bebe and Buttner, Couldn't get in the United team, both play in the champions league next season:mad:

How many of these teams are good enough to get top 4 in England cos that's the real comparison wrt playing in champions league (last seasons albeit)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013%E2%80%9314_UEFA_Champions_League#Group_stage

lordgoat

From ducker's article that was posted.

https://twitter.com/AlexShawESPN/status/492692337454116865

Says alot if it's true.

DM_7

bucketybuck wrote: »

Unfortunately every summer somebody at the club pushes a big red "Reset" button and everything has to start from scratch.

Damn right,

I mean apart from decisions on Rio, Evra going and spending 60 million or so on Herrera, Shaw the club have just hung around being indecisive.

Zico

Donnielighto wrote: »

Jog on.

Indeed.

(I think you're better than that when everything is clear in your head.)

lordgoat

DM-ICE wrote: »

Damn right,

I mean apart from decisions on Rio, Evra going and spending 60 million or so on Herrera, Shaw the club have just hung around being indecisive.

Seriously, everyone is right to be pissed off/worried. I will say how it's expressed at times is a bit much.

But CFC City and Arsenal all have bought very well. If that's not a worry then I give up.

Rayne Wooney

It doesn't make much sense, if a player as good as Vidal is available you don't say you don't want him, especially when your best midfielder is an injured Michael Carrick with just 3 weeks until the league begins. Time will tell but we haven't got much of that at this stage

Mikeyt086

homerjay2005 wrote: »

he is a player who last season scored 14 top flight goals in portugal. I would have expected him to fetch around £5m.

For that price its an excellent deal for Benfica

For no price, apparently its Free up front but they will give us €3m if he is a superstar.

J. Marston

Anyone's shirt order still say "picking"?

greedygoblin

As someone mentioned before, in his first press conference LvG stated that he needed 3 or 4 weeks to see how the players adapted to his philosophy before he would bring in new faces. While he has acknowledged that we are short of defenders and that the squad is unbalanced, I don't think it is time to panic yet. After all, it was LA Galaxy we were playing the other night. And despite the positive performance from the players, I don't think LvG will be able to tell a lot from one match. I think he is waiting to see how they will fare against better quality opposition. That's why I'm looking forward to the Roma match tomorrow night. Should be a much better test.

TLDR: Not time to panic yet. Let's see how a couple of more friendly matches against better opposition go first.

Van.Bosch

RobertKK wrote: »

I will be shot...I thought Ashley Young played really well against LA Galaxy.
Maybe LVG will get him back to his best?

I agree, I'm putting it down to poor opposition but 2 assists (kind of) and two goals ain't bad in 45 mins

DM_7

lordgoat wrote: »

Seriously, everyone is right to be pissed off/worried. I will say how it's expressed at times is a bit much.

But CFC City and Arsenal all have bought very well. If that's not a worry then I give up.

While genuinely busy Van Gaal was able to make quick decisions on Rio, Evra, Shaw & Herrera. So I think its okay to treat this summer on its merits rather than look at last summers saga of indecision and time wasting.

In a couple of weeks time then I could see why people would give out but as adox said even with pessimism its hard to imagine United not signing at least three players.

Going by what Van Gaal has already said he will be after certain qualities that fit his philosophy, he wants to re-balance the squad and he wants to utilise the good attacking options already in the squad which is all great news to me.

EDIT: I also like how he put a definite timeline on what he wanted to do and what would happen at the end of it, he is not afraid to commit so more good news.

syngindub

thanks for the memories bebe !!

Antibac

J. Marston wrote: »

Anyone's shirt order still say "picking"?

Yes. Thought I was the only one!

EDIT

It's just been changed to Shipped

Zico

With the right approach you could buy the Vatican.

It's been done before.

Pro. F

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

It doesn't make much sense, if a player as good as Vidal is available you don't say you don't want him, especially when your best midfielder is an injured Michael Carrick with just 3 weeks until the league begins. Time will tell but we haven't got much of that at this stage

United's lack of movement on Vidal could just be down to concern over his knee injury. A late season knee operation followed by a hard summer tournament is something you would expect should delay, or even scupper, a transfer.

redbaron_99

Is LVG doing a press conference this evening? Anyone know?

onemorechance

Pro. F wrote: »

United's lack of movement on Vidal could just be down to concern over his knee injury. A late season knee operation followed by a hard summer tournament is something you would expect should delay, or even scupper, a transfer.

Read a quote (from the Chilean team doc I think) that the surgery may have been rushed to allow him to play in the World Cup and either may not have been done to the standard to which it should and / or it will need further surgery to rectify the rushed job or complete the treatment.

Fenix

J. Marston wrote: »

Anyone's shirt order still say "picking"?

Yup, mine does too. What time did you order?

redbaron_99

If Vidal is no longer a target, and it seems that way, anyone else think we should put in a bid for Arda Turan? Would fit in well on the left side of a midfield 3. Very experienced, probably entering into his peak years, hard working and a leader on the pitch. Personally I think he'd be a brilliant signing for us.

EDIT: Wouldn't cost anywhere near the price of Vidal or Di Maria or similar.

dahat

Getting an awful feeling Van Gaal may use what he has in midfield till next summer.
De Jong at best is what we will get I reckon.

J. Marston

Fenix wrote: »

Yup, mine does too. What time did you order?

About 1:30am yesterday.

Zico

Pro. F wrote: »

United's lack of movement on Vidal could just be down to concern over his knee injury.

Or too much phlogiston.

redbaron_99

Zico wrote: »

Or too much phlogiston.

Liam McPoyle

Reports on Sky Sports app saying that Italian media saying we have bid £30 million for Strootman?

Lord TSC

Business Cat wrote: »

Reports on Sky Sports app saying that Italian media saying we have bid £30 million for Strootman?

Sky Sports also have an article up saying Roma have said he's going nowhere...

EDIT: Was their manager...

“Strootman is a Roma player. He will be a Roma player this year. There is no doubt about that,” Garcia said on the eve of Roma’s friendly against United in Denver. “Only he can say whether he wants to stay but it was never an issue for him to go to another club. There is no question of it.”

smurfs5

LVG's only been in charge for 10 days so from his perspective, he's still getting to know the players and their capabilities. He's probably still in the process of evaluating the team and over the next two weeks, he'll know more about the players' attributes and how they'll fit into his core formation as well as deciding who's surplus to requirements. I'm sure him and Ed will then reduce the shopping list down to 3 or 4 main targets.

It's glaringly obvious that 2 CBs are needed - De Vrij and Vermaelen probably. Plus a box-to-box midfielder.

Rayne Wooney

Pro. F wrote: »

United's lack of movement on Vidal could just be down to concern over his knee injury. A late season knee operation followed by a hard summer tournament is something you would expect should delay, or even scupper, a transfer.

You could easily be right there.

I'd say we need at least 4 signings, 2 CBs and 2 CMs, 1 of each is urgently needed for the start of the season IMO. Fletcher and Ander is probably our best CM pairing at the moment.

Kerrydude1981

redbaron_99 wrote: »

If Vidal is no longer a target, and it seems that way, anyone else think we should put in a bid for Arda Turan? Would fit in well on the left side of a midfield 3. Very experienced, probably entering into his peak years, hard working and a leader on the pitch. Personally I think he'd be a brilliant signing for us.

EDIT: Wouldn't cost anywhere near the price of Vidal or Di Maria or similar.

You working for the Metro

http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/25/manchester-united-open-talks-with-atletico-madrid-over-arda-turan-transfer-4809814/