I think you are understating the issue, rumour has it we actually paid him £1m to leave (a few months after some Turkish club had supposedly been sniffing around with a £8m bid)
** Summer Transfer Window 2011/12 Season Rumours/Signings **
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I think you are understating the issue, rumour has it we actually paid him £1m to leave (a few months after some Turkish club had supposedly been sniffing around with a £8m bid)
I think a ball-winning midfielder would actually be of far more use to United than a creative one. For me, the most balanced midfields in recent years have been the likes of Milan and Barcelona, to use some Football Manager terminology:
Gattuso (Defensive Mid)
Pirlo (Deep Lying Playmaker)
Seedorf (Attacking Mid)
Busquets (Defensive Mid)
Xavi (Deep Lying Playmaker)
Iniesta (Attacking Mid)
At United we haven't played with three genuine midfielders all year, as Rooney has lined up as our attacking midfielder. In Carrick we have a player in the mould of Xavi/Pirlo (note I'm not suggesting he's as good before any muppets say I am) but we don't have an effective defensive player to play alongside him. I think our strongest system is 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-1-1 but we need someone with some balls to play alongside Carrick and impose themselves on the game. That is not Sneijder or Modric.
Good forgive me if it happens want him to stay but Tiote? lol Brillint ball winner. Very tiddy passer
Soldato
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I wouldn't say no at all, think he would be an excellent buy and what Fergie would call "value".
Soldato
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The problem with Modric (aside from wanting to remain in London) is simply the price.
For Spurs to sell, especially to us, will take an enormous bid, probably one beyond what he is worth. Couple that with a potential bidding war with Chelsea and it doesnt seem a great move.
We have taken players from them too often. While it was ok in the past when we paid a premium, they are now trying to establish themselves as a top 4 club and flogging one of their best players to a rival wont go down well. The price will have to reflect that i think.
Caporegime
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Glad he failed his medical with us but it's worrying he's the type of player we're looking at
Different sites claim that Barca, United and City are all gonna sign him so who knowsDon't think we will get either Sneijder or Modric as well, Fergie will probably sign someone like Charlie Adam
A few people (spanish people) on twitter are claiming that Barca won the race and that he signs on Monday.
http://twitter.com/#!/eduardorojasr
I've already offered Poulsen once. I think you need not look anywhere else really, he's the complete package.
Caporegime
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It's not winning the ball we really have a problem with (well except Barca but everyone has that problem) it's ability on the ball in the midfield. We need a midfielder who is comfortable in possession on the ball, simple as that really.
Soldato
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Barca seem the favs and are being reported in a few places as having sealed the deal.
Seems fair enough.
If its true i wonder where the Fabregas money will come from?
Soldato
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Its really a link man i think. If we have Rio etc comfy on the ball in defence, a couple of wingers and Rooney dropping slightly deep that means the centre of midfield really needs to be able to facilitate the other players to do their thing.
Personally I hope Fergie gives Anderson the game time he needs to prove he is more then capable of doing the job. His 1st season he showed what he could do and he was already then touted as Scholes' long term replacement. Unfortunatly last season, apart from the run in, wasn't good for him. But it appears he's working on his game as shown by the goals he came up with.
Soldato
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Anderson has all the requirements to be great. He was signed as an attacking player but has drifted further and further back. Id love to seehim properly step up, he showed examples of it last season but needs to be consistant.
I'm not suggesting it's outlandish, far from it it's just that the very best midfielders in the world are at your Real Madrid's, Barcelona's at the like. It's just my opinion that from what I've seen Modric is the best from the rest, he's certainly the best midfielder outside of the Sky 4 & City in the premiership.
Again by all means name names, it's all very easy to say there's better options than Modric but it seems a lot harder to actually name them. Sneijder seems to be the one everyone keeps mentioning but I have my doubts if there's any real interest from United in him, if there were I would have expected him to have been signed years ago tbh.
Caporegime
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Yes, the whole thing was ridiculous, theres been a bunch of rumours, everything from he's gay and wanted to leave the country to hide it...... to us paying him a load to leave on his word he wanted to go abroad(for some other reason). I dunno, its just about the single most ridiculous transfer in history to be honest.
It kind of makes you think he knew something and leveraged it to leave and make turn a free transfer into a huge contract at Pompie rather than a transfer fee for us and way lower wages for him. Infact, I hope he blackmailed us over, a drugs issue, or some dodgey behind the scenes thing, at least that isn't bad business, letting him walk for no reason is literally beyond comprehension.
Frankly he was worth at least 10mil still, how we just let him walk I don't know.
Caporegime
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Real Madrid don't have great central mid's, Khedira is a joke, Diarra is very very good but seemingly wants out, so thats a Real one thats available, anyone that can be remotely objective would also see Alonso was pretty rubbish for them in the majority of games.
The main issue is, Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson are pretty rubbish, you don't need to buy the "best" central midfielder in the world to have a huge improvement in the Utd midfield. I don't really rate Nasri, but he's FAR better than Anderson, or Carrick. Parker would be short term but is again better than anything you have defensively/combative. Diarra would be pretty much perfect, he's not only defensive, though he can be, he's very good at passing and driving a game forwards, turning defence into attack.
The thing is, no one can really state definitively what Fergie is looking for, is he going to play Young in the middle, his passing, movement, vision, defensive workrate are all a cut above the three main guys you have now.
Do you need a better defensive midfielder to play with Young, or are you going to play Young and Nani first team and Valencia only as rotation/cover, and you really do need a creative midfielder.
I still think central midfield, at least for this year, is the lowest priority, they can be improved upon, easily, but, you don't have to have the best player in every position to win the league.
Soldato
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Outstanding(!)
Caporegime
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True though.
Soldato
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Not really. In fact, not at all.
Caporegime
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Your opinion is wrong.
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