It's a risk though and that's exactly my point, we can't afford to take a punt on what might become a top player for us and in the process probably pay over the odds.
I doubt many people thought Ivanovic was a great buy at the time or if they had even heard of him in the first place.
Sturridge was a risk as well, he wasn't playing enough and when he did he looked greedy, Liverpool took a punt and it worked out. Do you think Man Utd should take a punt on someone who is sitting on the bench at another club? How do you think that will go down?
People are acting like you need 3-4 top players, and that is it? What, have you seen the squad? During Fergie's best years, what happened, you still had to buy people every year because people get old, other players move on. There is CONSTANT squad turnover, that doesn't and won't change.
You STILL need the 2-3 buys a season outside of the massive players you need, regardless of if you buy Fabregas or Messi, you still need a back up in midfield who is good enough for rotation and has the potential to be as good as Fabregas in the future.
You still need a replacement for Valencia, and fullbacks, probably a CB with more potential than Smalling/Jones are showing.
You still have to plan for 3-4 years from now as well as this month. You still need 4 18-21yr olds who can offer something to the squad today and may become first team in 2-3 years.
One of the main reasons Utd has gone wrong is because their current crop, Fabio, Cleverley, Welbeck, Jones, Smalling, aren't good enough. If they were the team would be much stronger. The idea that if the club signs 3 world class players, no other players will ever leave and planning for 2-3 years from now is not warranted, is nuts. It also ignores the fact that top notch players can be failures, Utd have had enough to know this, as have most clubs.
Utd need 10+ players in the next 18-24 months, because I see Vidic, Rio, Fabio, Valencia, Young and Anderson(after his loan) all being gone within that time frame at most, maybe all in 6 months, that is 5 players to replace, 2-3 world class players won't do that.
Utd need 2-4 really top notch players, 3-5 18-21 yr olds with potential, and probably 1-2 squad players, more established, 23-28yr old range who can improve the team but aren't going to be setting the world alight. It's not a punt, this is how Utd won titles, and Arsenal, and City, and Chelsea, and Real, and Barca.
Barca took a punt on a midget child who turned into the best player on the planet. City took a punt on 5mil Kompany who turned out to be the best CB in the league, Chelsea took a punt on Lampard and a punt on Shevchenko, one worked out, one didn't. Every top club is made up of a collection of youngsters who cost sub 1mil and usually anything from 12-18 who eventually come through, some first team, some squad members. A collection of Ronaldo types, 10-15mil on 18-21 yr olds who look something special, and several 10-30mil players who are actually pretty much the finished article. You can't exclusively go after 30mil + big name players, because Utd's normal business, even if the team was great now, would be to buy these younger players with potential EVERY year, as every other big club does every year.
