** Official ** Summer 2010 Transfer Thread - Signings, Sightings and Rumor's in Here

[G|mp]

its another example of a terrible bit of business by fergie tbh.

for a team that plays 1 striker most of the time, spending 7.5 on hernandez and then antoher similar amount on Bebe when its really our decrepit and aged midfield that needs fixing? i dont understand

but also the timing and negotiation were clearly calamatous.

buy him 5 weeks previous and you save 7 million. negotiate with the club you might save something. but to just go in and recklessly pay his contract release clause. ill just never understand it.

will he be the next Dong? the next manucho? the next rossi or even the next macheda?

IF we sell berba for 15 mill in the next 48 hours i might show some understanding. if not then the whole transfer makes no sense to me. IF he is the new 'ronaldo' how come we only found this out in the last 5 weeks after he changed clubs but hasnt played a competative match yet?

Fergie was in Portugal being a character witness for Queiroz, Queiroz mentioned to him a young up and coming AM who was available with a release clause of 7.4 million which Real Madrid were prepared to pay after having him watched in pre season.

Fergie moved quickly the same way he did with Nani and Anderson, he may well become the next Dong, Manucho whoever but if for instance he wasn't and becomes a massive player who went to Real Madrid you would be the first to moan "Fergie missed a trick with this one"

Of course he would have liked to have negotiated and got the price down a bit, met the player spoke to agents etc but by then he would have been sat in the Bernabau holding up a white shirt for the cameras.

7.4 million in todays terms is good business, from what I've seen of him he's very raw but has oodles of pace and power, he is what we expected Anderson to turn out to be like by the looks of him and I don't think you can knock Fergie for moving quickly for him but you always do so......

 

[jakeke]

Good news with Wenger, regardless of what people can say about the last 5 years of his work I'm convinced he's the only man around who could have stayed competitive under such constraints and he should be free to spend the money when the fruits of his labour deliver (hopefully in the next 2 or 3 years)

 

[Weebull]

Oh aye. I see Arsene has no problem breaking his over-30s policy when it matters eh? Disgraceful.

Note: This post may contain a terrible attempt at sarcasm

 

[goonerfan]

The thought of him leaving still terrifies me, so how anyone could ever want another manager in mystifies me. When you have a long-term manager as we and Manchester United do, they become so much more involved in the fundamentals of running a club. Some managers are just glorified first team coaches, but Wenger and Ferguson are so much more than that. There's no doubting his ability to control the finances of our club through what was a very tricky transitional period, he clearly shares the same views as the board for a successful business model and the need to move to a new stadium. His ability to develop youngsters is second perhaps only to Fergie, and he's been very astute in the transfer market and knowing when to let players go. Our next worry now needs to be persuading Arsene not to retire!

 

[azamc]

from the clips i have seen of bebe he looks like a am/forward. i think if he develops well he could form a great understanding playing a free role behind rooney where he can collect the ball deep or drift to the wings.

how old is this kid?

 

[goonerfan]

20, so he isn't the springiest of spring chickens

heh turns out he never even played in the homeless world cup, and that was just a fabrication.
Really is remarkable how United have paid all that money for a totally unknown and unproven player, he must have some talent indeed.

 

[The Running Man]

7.4 million in todays terms is good business, from what I've seen of him he's very raw but has oodles of pace and power, he is what we expected Anderson to turn out to be like by the looks of him and I don't think you can knock Fergie for moving quickly for him but you always do so......

but if its peanuts you want a player for, then why ignore the Ozil situation...do you know what i mean?

it would be a bigger miss even if Beba became a top player - because ozil is less of a gamble..and not much more expensive. but then obviously we dont know behind the scenes. ozil might aleady be tied up in a move to barca and not want to move to man utd and is prepared to wait for barca to sort the deal? who knows, i can only speculate.

ill throw another name out there. Tosic.

my issue with fergie is that sometimes he seems very slow to bid (ozil) or he just buys a nobody right out for no apparent reason (manucho, Bebe). then sticks with them if they suck (youth and signings) Bellion Chadwick, o'Shea etc... but if they look reasonable he gets rid, or doesnt even give a chance for reasons completely unknown.

For example, that french winger we have, he is terrible but we have stuck with him.. (obertan)... yet Tosic looks better but never got a chance.

then u have evans who doesnt look world class, yet stick by him, where you have Pique get rid asap and now is a champs league winner? world cup winner? Chris smalling?! Pique MUST be better than smalling?

Manucho never got much of a sniff 1 game...bellion played....24 times? Chadwick 25? Tosic 2?

its just odd.

 

[Weebull]

heh turns out he never even played in the homeless world cup, and that was just a fabrication.

Where'd you read that?

I'd bet there are a fair few journalists desperately scrabbling for info on this guy right now, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone's fed them a dud.

 

[goonerfan]

The Piqué situation is akin to the Fabregas one; the player wanted to leave to return to his hometown club, and Ferguson didn't exactly have a lot of options when Piqué wanted to leave. Bullishly holding onto him would have just resulted in him not playing/training properly, sitting on a bench for the remainder of his contract and leaving for free...

Manucho, Dong, Diouf, (Park) they're all part of the Very Important Manchester United International Shirt Flogging Scheme, and Obertan well he has some promise about him; looks fleet of foot and tidy at dribbling, once you've taught him to cross and/or shoot, he could be a threat.

I don't think Man Utd. are anywhere near as bad as a club like Real Madrid or even Barca for buying players that turn out to be expensive flops.

 

[goonerfan]

Where'd you read that?

I'd bet there are a fair few journalists desperately scrabbling for info on this guy right now, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone's fed them a dud.

I read it on his wikipedia article, so it could be nonsense, not sure.

I checked the reference and it led to this page on the United website
http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={83A644F4-1A7E-48B9-AF95-4605613A9A18}&newsid=6644674


and I was like where the **** is the reference about the Homeless world cup, but if you go three pages into that article:
http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={83A644F4-1A7E-48B9-AF95-4605613A9A18}&newsid=6644674&page=3

you find this entry

17:31 We've just received correspondence from people at the Homeless World Cup. To set the record straight, Bebe never played in the competition, contrary to widespread reports in the British press today. He did play for the CAIS charity, an organisation responsible for managing the Portugal homeless team, but he was not involved in the tournament. By the way, the next Homeless World Cup takes place on Copacabana Beach in Brazil from 19 to 26 September. For more info, visit www.homelessworldcup.org (NC)

 

[The Running Man]

but where do bellion, chadwick etc fit into this shirt selling scheme? i think Manucho is angolan? i dont know what market conditions are like in angola but...i dont think shirt sales are the primary concern there!

Ferguson didn't exactly have a lot of options when Piqué wanted to leave

sending him on loan to zaragoza for a season didnt help engrain him into our squad neither:/

 

[goonerfan]

I cannot and will not defend Bellion or Chadwick, don't worry
the latter was just a product of your academy though wasn't he?? No mega outlay of cash?

and yeah you're right Manucho is Angolan, but I think the idea was that by signing an African, any African, United would raise their profile in the continent.


I think the whole Piqué situation was just unfortunate for United; he couldn't have bled him in that season; if you remember that was when you cantered to the title and had your entire back 4 get into the Premier League team of the season.
Sending him to Zaragoza did alert Barca to his quality, but they'd have scouts at the majority of United games anyway, so they would have 'discovered' him eventually, and like Fabregas he'd always want to go back to his hometown club. The only reasonw we've been able to persuade Cesc to stay so long is because he's club captain and our best player, and he's played for us since he was 16.
Piqué was never going to gain that level of importance to United, and thus be persuaded to stay, during his time there...

 

[explicit4u]

Arsene about to sign a contract extension for us which is good to hear. He's intimated that he'll retire at 65 though, if he's feeling jaded.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/8912413.stm


good news, now ******* get out there and sign a defender and goalie you old mad frenchist!

Good news yes but he needs to show us that he deserves the job. 5 years ago he was a fantastic manager and was bringing in trophies every season! As mentioned above he's done well to keep such a young squad competitive but he needs to start bringing in the silverware. Lack of a suitable replacement is the main reason he's still #1 imo.

 

[G|mp]

but if its peanuts you want a player for, then why ignore the Ozil situation...do you know what i mean?

it would be a bigger miss even if Beba became a top player - because ozil is less of a gamble..and not much more expensive. but then obviously we dont know behind the scenes. ozil might aleady be tied up in a move to barca and not want to move to man utd and is prepared to wait for barca to sort the deal? who knows, i can only speculate.

ill throw another name out there. Tosic.

my issue with fergie is that sometimes he seems very slow to bid (ozil) or he just buys a nobody right out for no apparent reason (manucho, Bebe). then sticks with them if they suck (youth and signings) Bellion Chadwick, o'Shea etc... but if they look reasonable he gets rid, or doesnt even give a chance for reasons completely unknown.

For example, that french winger we have, he is terrible but we have stuck with him.. (obertan)... yet Tosic looks better but never got a chance.

then u have evans who doesnt look world class, yet stick by him, where you have Pique get rid asap and now is a champs league winner? world cup winner? Chris smalling?! Pique MUST be better than smalling?

Manucho never got much of a sniff 1 game...bellion played....24 times? Chadwick 25? Tosic 2?

its just odd.

Ozil - There is a bidding war going on for him, Werder are trying to get as much as possible before he can leave for free next season, Real Madrid, Barca and us are in for him, I wouldn't want Fergie paying 18+ for him which is what is being touted about, I'm not entirely convinced that he wants to come here anyway.

Tosic - Obertan might not have set the world alight but neither did Tosic, he looked lightweight, knocked off the ball too easy and did nothing everytime he had a chance. Do you watch the reserves at all? Obertan and Cleverley are coming on leaps and bounds. Now if you had said Lajic I would agreed with you, he was never given a chance but neither you or I see these players in training every day, Fergie does.

Evans - Evans may not be world class but he's not the type of player to have his head turned neither (see Fabregas) and puts in a good shift every time he's asked to, Pique was never going to get in ahead of Ferdinand or Vidic so why not let him go back to Barca, if he wasn't playing every game he was always going to be tempted, Fergie cashed in while he could without him going back for nothing! Pique also went on loan remember to give him first team action and came back and said he wanted to play in Spain again, what can you do force him to stay?

 

[Spunj99]

Wahay! Beattie's gone!

 

[Stewy]

How much did Pique go for?

 

[G|mp]

5 million iirc.

 

[The Running Man]

Ozil, like i say i want to see us bid but i dont know what goes on behind closed doorys etc so its a difficult one to be overly critical. but if we didnt even sniff around him, then id be shocked.

Tosic - Obertan might not have set the world alight but neither did Tosic, he looked lightweight, knocked off the ball too easy and did nothing everytime he had a chance.

i was there for Obertans debut vs Wolves. he was simply awful.

Tosic? well its not like he was 6.5' 220lb when we signed him and then he suddenly shrank when he played for us. but yet fergie knew this and still spent the money and gave him exactly 2 sub appearances, one for 13 mins another one for similar.. then its sweet goodbye to however many million we spent?!

If you watch the reserves hows Brandy doing? instead of splashing the cash on Diuff (a nobody IMO who will never play for us seriously) why not try these younglings. Wellbecks had too many chances and looked seriously bad as well. he will never be a utd player. but fergie persists with him for no reason.

 

[G|mp]

Ozil, like i say i want to see us bid but i dont know what goes on behind closed doorys etc so its a difficult one to be overly critical. but if we didnt even sniff around him, then id be shocked.



i was there for Obertans debut vs Wolves. he was simply awful.

Tosic? well its not like he was 6.5' 220lb when we signed him and then he suddenly shrank when he played for us. but yet fergie knew this and still spent the money and gave him exactly 2 sub appearances, one for 13 mins another one for similar.. then its sweet goodbye to however many million we spent?!

If you watch the reserves hows Brandy doing? instead of splashing the cash on Diuff (a nobody IMO who will never play for us seriously) why not try these younglings. Wellbecks had too many chances and looked seriously bad as well. he will never be a utd player. but fergie persists with him for no reason.

Like I said none of us see any of these players in training though dude, Tosic never impressed me and if he's getting knocked around by 16-17 year old kids then its pointless keeping him, Obertan whilst being slight has the build to be a decent player, if not sell him, we didn't pay that much for him anyway, you seem to be talking like we are spending millions on these players, we're not, it's peanuts in todays market.

Diouf looks promising I have to say, raw but promising and again if he's no good ship him out, no loss really.

Welbeck has been having growing issues as far as I'm aware, he has been having growth spurts which have been causing him injuries, will be interesting to see him for Sunderland.

Brandy's not doing to bad although he's had injury problems as well, the problem is, you can't send these youngsters into the hustle and bustle of Premiership football when the stakes are so high, you would be the first to complain if Welbeck and Brandy were up front and we got spanked by Stoke, you have to bring them through slowly and see how they cope, again no great loss if they don't work out.

 

[FrankJH]

Obertan is not unlike a youthful Ryan Giggs (from his build point of view) - Ryan bulked up considerably and I admit Obertan is a bit older but even so, yes his first season wasnt great but we paid 2 - 3 million for him which I dont have a problem with at all, and as stated Obertan played brilliantly for the reserves tail end of last season

I am concerned about the Bebe transfer though - while £7m isnt much in today's market, its not like Man Utd have a big transfer kitty, and while Bebe may well come good in a year or two - what are we going to do in the intervening time. I have a lot of time for Cleverly (because he is from the acadamy rather than his nationality particularly) he has already shown dedication to Man Utd so he deserves his chance - but this needs to be a slow process I would be surprised if he gets 10 sub appearances (dont want to rush things- because knowing the UK press they will over exagerate)

I really think with Anderson and Hargreaves not working out - we need more central midfield options this season

Even if Nani and Valencia score in double figures, and Giggs , Scholes and Carrick and Fletcher score the same as last season (the latter 3or4 in less time on the pitch / fewer games just from Cleverly coming on instead) Utd still need more midfield goals - which we dont look like getting without an experienced addition

I will be VERY surprised if Welbeck ever plays for Utd 1st team again - I know he has had injury concerns etc but he never really looked Utd quality even in patches imo