** Summer Transfer Window 2011/12 Season Rumours/Signings **

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sneijder and Rodwell are very different players.

I want a player who sits in the midfield, wins the ball and gives it to a better player.

Its as simple as that.

I never said they werent different players - but I highly doubt SAF will bring in more than one CM, so its either /or

Jones, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson are all capable of playing the "inferior" role (maybe even Cleverley, but that would be a waste of his talents unless really desperate imo) so Utd need a box to box/ AM player like De Rossi/ (or as a complete AM) Sneijder......some of the German "kids" would also work out well also

I definitely feel a big part of the clamour to sign Sneijder is because it would be a great statement rather than him being exactly what we need. We need a player in a similar role to Carrick but one that can operate in tighter spaces and with greater mobility, a bit like Busquets for Barcelona. There's really no shortage of creativity in our side although it comes from our wings and forwards rather than our midfield.

I agree with you about needing a Carrick who can work in smaller spaces, but wonders if SAF would then be tempted to play him IN Carrick's position....ie more defensive positioning.....and I would still prefer the creatibvity to be much further up the pitch....and centrally....rather than just getting creativity from wide areas all the time
 
Last edited:
I dont want us to sign a player to prove a point.

Neither do I, that's just how it feels. The longer this saga goes on, the more I would prefer us to look elsewhere. Would Sneijder have helped us in any of the big games we struggled in last season? Doubtful.

I think Jones will feature a lot in midfield this season too.
 
Sneijder would certainly be expensive (and potentially not even vfm), and there is a big ? over whether he and Rooney can play effectively together .....they can play in the same team but would you get the best out of both of them..... more debatable imo.

I am surprised that people question whether Sneijder would have helped Utd in the bigger games - I think thats less under doubt imo

Easiest to start - No question that any of the games Utd didnt play with Rooney (esp the FA Cup semi) I highly doubt would have fazed WS at all and would have probably led to a different cup winner (given there was only one goal in it to start with).

Some of the away EPL games would have been much easier on Utd given a more dominant midfield.

Whether Utd would have beaten barca, thats impossible to answer but given the early chances Utd had in that game.....it would have been a much closer result
 
Yobo has left the club! :( :(


cleared out his locker at Finch Farm and gone back to Nigeria

no deal has been done to sell him yet though but this must mean there is one coming up very soon
 
I would still very much like us to sign Wesley. I think with him added the squad would be very strong indeed.
 
I definitely feel a big part of the clamour to sign Sneijder is because it would be a great statement rather than him being exactly what we need. We need a player in a similar role to Carrick but one that can operate in tighter spaces and with greater mobility, a bit like Busquets for Barcelona. There's really no shortage of creativity in our side although it comes from our wings and forwards rather than our midfield.

Who's to say Sneijder can't be that man though? I know he's generally thought of as a number 10 player but I don't think he'd have much of a problem adapting to playing a little deeper.

My first choice all summer has been Modric as he's pretty much the player you're describing (i.e. a better version of Carrick) but any hope of him signing this summer died fairly early in this transfer window when he said he didn't want to leave London and Chelsea showed their interest in him so that's left Sneijder and to a lesser extent Nasri.

For what it's worth Sneijder has come out tonight saying he's for sale if the right offer comes in but he hasn't spoken with any potential future club, Inter fans also seem resigned to him leaving and twitter seems to think it'll be done following the England/Holland game.... I do wonder what next deadline people will think up once it's clear that nothings happening come Thursday/Friday
 
Considering Sneijder's workrate isn't the best and he has a serious petulant/fouling/cynical streak in him, a more withdrawn responsible role is about the last thing I'd be giving him.

Why would you buy a player who, is one of two things, either a great great attacking midfield/withdrawn striker who is expensive, or a not fantastic player who is over rated, and expensive, and then go and play him in a different role?

Why wouldn't you go and buy a cheaper player who is better at that role already? Thats what I would refer to as "Real Madrid buying", buying a name for the sake of the name, not if he'll fit in the squad, or if you need him, or if he'd improve the team..... see Kaka, Khedira, and a whole bunch of other one year or one tournament "wonders" who do nothing for the team but cost them money.


Utd fans keep harping on about having to have a central mid, Scholes barely played last season, you won the league, you got to the CL final. Over last season you already have Cleverley, Young and Fletcher back from injury as essentially 3 new players to stick across midfield, with Young playing the withdrawn striker role for England absolutely brilliantly lately, Cleverley looking very able and Fletcher being a boring useless git who can kick people a lot and won't give up kicking people till he's on the coach and on his way home.

So you have a seriously strengthened midfield in reality. VDS retired, the only real first teamer to retire, Neville aswell but due to injurys he had already been replaced, and you've got further defensive cover in Jones.

Sneijder frankly, will be 30mil pee'd down the tubes, he could be great, but so could Cleverley, so could someone for 5mil, and more than anything its the flat out sick wages he'd want to leave Inter that will be trouble.

At least in Rooney you have a very popular England player and won loads at Utd, so gets insane wages, not great, not terrible, when you start throwing even bigger wages at a older player, who isn't particularly great, you'll create all kinds of problems with other players in the future.
 
They asked fergie after the match if any more business was going t happen. Fergie seemed to say no quitte adamantly. Not even, a 'we'll see' thing. Just a big fat no.

So i think we could continue on to January now with the squad we have mnus obertan and maybe another.
 
You say that but when have we ever played with defensive midfielders? Keane in his prime was box to box and in his one season Hargreaves best performances were also when he was given license to get forward

Looking at Barca their so called defensive midfielder is hardly a tough tackler is he, he sits in front of the back 4 and keeps it simple giving the ball to the better passers in the team. United dont need a creative goal scoring midfielder as creativity and goal scoring we already have in abundance we need some with better ball retention than what we have already (or at least what the current players showed last season, Anderson for one is already looking much more assured in possession and far less attempted Hollywood balls)
 
I was just using defensive and offensive as simple terms to show where they prefer to play on the pitch. I think both Anderson and Cleverley like to be in the final third. I think we need someone who plays deeper than that.
 
Personally I cant imagine Carrick will suddenly find himself out of the team (especially to a duo of Anderson and Cleverley) so there's your deep lying midfielder

I'd say as things stand Carrick and Anderson/Giggs will play together most weeks, if Sneijder signs then Carrick & Sneijder, maybe if he continues to impress Carrick & Cleverley
 
So our options would be:

Carrick + Sneijder
Carrick + Anderson
Carrick + Giggs
Carrick + Cleverley

Now obviously Fletcher would be an option instead of Carrick (if he ever recovers) but that set up just screams out that it will limit Cleverley's game time and development. I'd rather give it a season with what we have now, who knows maybe Anderson can flourish with regular football the same way Nani did last year.
 
I was just using defensive and offensive as simple terms to show where they prefer to play on the pitch. I think both Anderson and Cleverley like to be in the final third. I think we need someone who plays deeper than that.

Are either good enough though?

Cleverly done well 2nd half today but from what I saw of him at Wigan, I think it will be a huge ask for him to be able to hold down a position in your side. And Anderson looks worse now than he did in his first season with you.

I think that sometimes when a youngster comes through a clubs academy, fans can get a bit carried away with just how good they are. Being a very good youngster is one thing but being able to make the step up to becoming a first team player at a top side is a huge ask.

I've spent a lot of this summer saying the same (not on here) to Liverpool fans regarding the youngsters we've got coming through at the moment. We've got a good 6 or 7 players that could make the step up over the next 1-2 years but the reality is that we'll be lucky if more than 2 are still with us in 3 years time.
 
Still wouldn't surprise me to see Jones occasionally deployed in a holding midfield role if push came to shove this season.

I think it could be an important season for Anderson, he's been very erratic - was an extremely promising AM as a youngster, then MU seemed to convert him into a more deep lying role, he then went off the boil but came back strong towards the end of last season. So basically with Scholes having retired it is now time for him to come out from the shadows and stake a claim for a starting berth, otherwise I don't know what he is doing at the club.
 
So our options would be:

Carrick + Sneijder
Carrick + Anderson
Carrick + Giggs
Carrick + Cleverley

Now obviously Fletcher would be an option instead of Carrick (if he ever recovers) but that set up just screams out that it will limit Cleverley's game time and development. I'd rather give it a season with what we have now, who knows maybe Anderson can flourish with regular football the same way Nani did last year.

Definitely agree it's certainly a juggling act and a happy medium needs to be found so that the likes of Cleverley are given time to show whether they're up to it or not (the same applies to the striker situation; Berbatov & Owen potentially limiting Welbeck & Macheda's time on the pitch) but I dont think we can get away with relying on kids like we did in 95 not with City's emergence or Barca's dominance in Europe, back then we could possibly go in with the mentality of it being no big deal if we dont win the league as the young players get a full season to show what they can do imagine doing that now though and City win their first title in decades as a consequence.... :eek:
 
Are either good enough though?

Cleverly done well 2nd half today but from what I saw of him at Wigan, I think it will be a huge ask for him to be able to hold down a position in your side. And Anderson looks worse now than he did in his first season with you.

I think that sometimes when a youngster comes through a clubs academy, fans can get a bit carried away with just how good they are. Being a very good youngster is one thing but being able to make the step up to becoming a first team player at a top side is a huge ask.

I've spent a lot of this summer saying the same (not on here) to Liverpool fans regarding the youngsters we've got coming through at the moment. We've got a good 6 or 7 players that could make the step up over the next 1-2 years but the reality is that we'll be lucky if more than 2 are still with us in 3 years time.

Of course it's a huge ask for Cleverly. Everything you are hearing about him from the interviews with ex pro's is that he has the maturity and conviction and desire to become a very good pro. Personally, I would play him with Fletcher as our two deep lying midfielders.

As for this farce about Sneijder being the ideal replacement for Scholes, well it's a farce. For my money there is only one player who comes close at the moment and that's Rooney. I am guessing neither he nor Ferguson would want to play him any deeper. The other issue you have is where do you fit Sneijder in the same team as Rooney when they both could potentially be looking to drift into the same places on the field.

I think some United fans are desperate to sign a world class player like Sneijder. Sometimes more for the name he is than what he would bring to the team.

Our issue is that in the final 3rd of the field we have not had anyone carry the ball from a central position or put their foot on the ball and watch play develop around them for a good few years. From what I have seen, Cleverley and Pogba are the most capable at the club. Whether they have the quality only time will tell
 
Anderson has been good in pre-season and finally scoring some goals. I've also liked what I've seen of Cleverley. I don't see the need to ***** 30 mill signing and twice that in salary to sign WS.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom