*Transfer Window 2014/15 Season Rumours/Signings *AKA Man U fans listing every player under the Sun

[Rusty0611]

He is supposed to be able to play DM, CB and LB so he would be a useful cover player. Its hard to say because if we get someone like Vidal or another quality CM then we don't necessarily need cover there as we would have Carrick, Herrera and Vidal to fill 2 positions so you would hope that all 3 of them wouldn't be injured at the same time. LB / LWB we have Rojo and Shaw.

It depends on the formation we want to play I guess. Blind is a handy player from what I can tell but not brilliant.

The Eredivisie is one of the leagues I don't watch hardly anything of so it's difficult to be sure but I can't see him playing CB personally. I dunno it just doesn't seem like a priority area where he plays to have utility player cover

Very strange because we haven't bought a right wing bsck yet and already spent 45 mil on rojojo and shaw for the left and have already had to play lindgard at right back lol.

Rafael and Valencia should be good enough on paper for that slot but Rafael is always injured so he's almost forced to play Valencia and Valencia hasn't been great since his leg break.

 

[Bucket]

Blind was a LB during 2012-13 season at Ajax and won their player of the year, last year he was switched to playing the holding midfield role and won Dutch player of the year.

Before anyone calls me out on it, not saying those awards are the be all and end all and mean he's quality, but it's just to illustrate that he plays in multiple positions, most recently holding midfield, and I believe from previous comments that's where most see his future.

 

[Rusty0611]

I just hope he gets rid of Lampshade if he's using Blind as primarily CM cover .

 

[FrankJH]

Blind was a LB during 2012-13 season at Ajax and won their player of the year, last year he was switched to playing the holding midfield role and won Dutch player of the year.

Before anyone calls me out on it, not saying those awards are the be all and end all and mean he's quality, but it's just to illustrate that he plays in multiple positions, most recently holding midfield, and I believe from previous comments that's where most see his future.

For the price - having Blind as cover for both positions is a good thing, and would have been better value for money before Rojo was bought (even though I know the latter covers CB as well as LB)

Im just not convinced we couldnt be spending that ~£20m better somewhere else (unless we get Vidal in first of course).

I just hope he gets rid of Lampshade if he's using Blind as primarily CM cover .

who the **** is "lampshade"?

 

[Rusty0611]

Fellaini.

 

[fez]

For the price - having Blind as cover for both positions is a good thing, and would have been better value for money before Rojo was bought (even though I know the latter covers CB as well as LB)

Im just not convinced we couldnt be spending that ~£20m better somewhere else (unless we get Vidal in first of course).

Hard to say really. It sounds like he wants to come and won't cost the earth whereas most teams will want to bend us over with the transfer fee for a quality player this late in the window knowing how desperate we are.

I haven't seen any other CM mentioned really bar Vidal either. Obviously if we can get him and perhaps nurse him back to full health over the course of the season that would be perfect but I doubt we will get him.

If LvG really wants Strootman in January then as long as Herrera stays fit we can probably get by till then but we seem to have half the team injured at the moment.

Currently our first XI could be

De Gea

Rafael Jones Evans Shaw

Januzaj Carrick Herrera Di Maria

Rooney RvP

As it stands we are missing 5 of that XI. It will be interesting to see what place Di Maria has in LvGs plans but wherever he goes he should be the sort of player that actually strikes fear into the opposition and makes them think twice about pushing on too much.

who the **** is "lampshade"?

Felliani perhaps. Not sure.

 

[DanH84]

I'd be amazed if you rejected Vidal on the basis of his knee and then brought Strootman in. Strootman is a top quality player but Vidal is still a level up from that. Only thing in Strootmans favour is his age which I guess could be quite a large potential benefit.

I'm over the moon with the ADM signing. Actually paying top money for a WC player. I think that with just one midfielder now we'll be completely transformed.

 

[BaZ87]

...or you know, they want to cash in while his stock is high and Manchester United are in a position of paying an inflated price .

Isn't it glaringly obvious that his stock isn't high right now? We've seen Barca, Real, Chelsea and City all sign CM's this window and none take an interest in Vidal. The only club that are in for him are Utd and they're put off by the asking price and worried about his knee.

Given the sort of fee Utd have paid for Di Maria why would Juve let him go for a reasonable price as the article stated, unless they're very keen on cashing in now? And then you have to ask yourself why they want to cash in now.

As far as I'm aware Juve aren't desperate for the money so I can only assume its a business decision as they think his value could fall of a cliff soon.

 

[Rusty0611]

Yeah I think personally it's what you say at the end Baz... he's worth as much now as he is ever likely to be worth so Juve are cashing in now. They aren't exactly short of real quality at CM either.

They have Pogba, Marchisio and the small matter of Pirlo.

 

[fez]

Of course he is at the height of his price. He has been very good for a while, had a great world cup and he is 27. I doubt Juve want to sell as he has been their best player for a while regardless of their other CM options. Pirlo is going to be retiring fairly soon I would imagine too.

 

[BaZ87]

The question is why though? He's regarded as one of the best CM's in the world and he's still at a decent age. The reason why there's not been huge interest in him or bids of £40m+ is because of his knee injury. If they have no concerns over his fitness long term then they have nothing to lose, they can hold onto him for another season and worst case sell him for a similar fee now or best case get that massive fee they hoped for this summer.

As I initially said, that's all dependent on them not needing the cash now which I don't really have a clue about.

Of course he is at the height of his price. He has been very good for a while, had a great world cup and he is 27.

Yet 4 major clubs and 4 of the 6 biggest spending clubs in world football all signed CM's this summer and ignored him. The fact that Utd are the only side looking at him and concerned about his price and knee tell you that he's not at his peak in value terms.

Maybe that peak has been and gone but surely a decent season where he proves his fitness will only help get back to that peak.

 

[xyphic]

I'd be amazed if you rejected Vidal on the basis of his knee and then brought Strootman in. Strootman is a top quality player but Vidal is still a level up from that. Only thing in Strootmans favour is his age which I guess could be quite a large potential benefit.

The difference between Vidal's injury and Strootman's is that the latter has been well-managed. The concerns about Vidal's knee are not about the nature of the injury, but whether its treatment has done more damage. By all accounts, he played when he shouldn't have (at the end of Juve's campaign), and they performed a quick patch-up surgery to get him 'fit' in time for the World Cup.

Juve have been very quick to deny -- regularly and extensively -- that he's for sale, which leads me to believe they want to get rid but without diminishing his value too much. While he is an excellent player, the last thing we need is an expensive crock.

Strootman has been sidelined since his injury, has had the correct surgery to repair it, and is taking time to recuperate. Chances are he'll make a full recovery and so may turn out to eventually be the better buy.

 

[Rusty0611]

A meniscus injury / op should be relatively straight forward to heal unless they bodged it to get him back playing more quickly. It's certainly less worrying than a cruciate ligament injury. It's an odd one. Might be a ticking time bomb in his knee as well hence the worry about it.

RvN had dodgy knees when we signed him. Sometimes you have to take the risk and manage the situation if the player is worth it. Difficult one.

 

[fez]

Yet 4 major clubs and 4 of the 6 biggest spending clubs in world football all signed CM's this summer and ignored him. The fact that Utd are the only side looking at him and concerned about his price and knee tell you that he's not at his peak in value terms.

Maybe that peak has been and gone but surely a decent season where he proves his fitness will only help get back to that peak.

I'm not sure I agree entirely. There is not such thing as "the" CM. Each team wants something different. Real bought Kroos for a cut down price and perhaps don't need a player in the mould of Vidal, Chelsea got Fabregas for a steal, Bayern don't need anyone there, City bought a backup CM and Vidal wouldn't want to be a backup. Barcelona don't need him either.

You wouldn't spend £40m odd on a player you don't really need when you can get one that better fits your needs for £20-30m.

 

[shipinabottle]

It may be a case of other clubs unwilling to pay the £50 million value, which is what we're looking at say with the addition of Hernandez. All these other clubs are not desperate, they have DMs that are capable, so don't need to throw money at the problem, we are, we need an established CM thanks to Fergie's reluctance to cover the obvious problem of having no Engine in the car.

 

[BaZ87]

I'm not sure I agree entirely. There is not such thing as "the" CM. Each team wants something different. Real bought Kroos for a cut down price and perhaps don't need a player in the mould of Vidal, Chelsea got Fabregas for a steal, Bayern don't need anyone there, City bought a backup CM and Vidal wouldn't want to be a backup. Barcelona don't need him either.

You wouldn't spend £40m odd on a player you don't really need when you can get one that better fits your needs for £20-30m.

I don't know. Vidal is without doubt one of the best CM's in the world and as we see ever summer, when a world class player becomes available the big clubs are interested whether they need him or not. Bale to Real, Neymar to Barca, Suarez to Barca, Di Maria to Utd etc.

Vidal is not just a world class CM but he's also one of the most complete midfielders around (that should start Rusty off) and could have filled the needs of Real, Barca, City or Chelsea.

For a player of Vidal's ability to be made available and for there to be so little interest leaves a lot of questions needing answering. Who knows, maybe I'm too cynical but I wonder just how bad his injury is.

 

[DanH84]

The difference between Vidal's injury and Strootman's is that the latter has been well-managed. The concerns about Vidal's knee are not about the nature of the injury, but whether its treatment has done more damage. By all accounts, he played when he shouldn't have (at the end of Juve's campaign), and they performed a quick patch-up surgery to get him 'fit' in time for the World Cup.

Juve have been very quick to deny -- regularly and extensively -- that he's for sale, which leads me to believe they want to get rid but without diminishing his value too much. While he is an excellent player, the last thing we need is an expensive crock.

Strootman has been sidelined since his injury, has had the correct surgery to repair it, and is taking time to recuperate. Chances are he'll make a full recovery and so may turn out to eventually be the better buy.

As mentioned though. Unless there's been a botched job Vidal's injury should be much more straigthforward to repair with less chance of reoccurring. Similar to the operation Suarez had.

If he's screwed himself over in order to play in the world cup then that's a different matter.

 

[Herman Gelmet]

Arsenal fans, Giroud has broken his foot and is out for at least 3 months.

Wonder what striker you'll go for?

I would play Podolski / Sanchez / Walcott. But we need some backup/rotation and I would get someone like Peralta (did well for Mexico - world cup), or maybe Salomon Rondon from Zenit. I haven't seen much of Rondon tbh, but he is young and talented enough to be given a try.

 

[fez]

I don't know. Vidal is without doubt one of the best CM's in the world and as we see ever summer, when a world class player becomes available the big clubs are interested whether they need him or not. Bale to Real, Neymar to Barca, Suarez to Barca, Di Maria to Utd etc.

I hear what you are saying but Vidal would not have satisfied RMs and Perez's desire for a marquee name. They have bought players like Bale, Ronaldo and Rodriguez. Attacking flair players

Vidal is not just a world class CM but he's also one of the most complete midfielders around (that should start Rusty off) and could have filled the needs of Real, Barca, City or Chelsea.

For a player of Vidal's ability to be made available and for there to be so little interest leaves a lot of questions needing answering. Who knows, maybe I'm too cynical but I wonder just how bad his injury is.

He would have been good for all the above clubs I am sure but they all have to worry about FFP so why would they buy a player that they don't really need for more money than a player that they need just as much and who doesn't have injury concerns.

All said and done, we won't fork out a lot of money on a player who we don't think is going to be able to play much for us due to injury

We did it once with Hargreaves and I doubt that we are silly enough to spend big to fix our midfield with the threat of not actually being able to use him in anger.

 

[Rusty0611]

I don't know. Vidal is without doubt one of the best CM's in the world and as we see ever summer, when a world class player becomes available the big clubs are interested whether they need him or not. Bale to Real, Neymar to Barca, Suarez to Barca, Di Maria to Utd etc.

Vidal is not just a world class CM but he's also one of the most complete midfielders around (that should start Rusty off) and could have filled the needs of Real, Barca, City or Chelsea.

For a player of Vidal's ability to be made available and for there to be so little interest leaves a lot of questions needing answering. Who knows, maybe I'm too cynical but I wonder just how bad his injury is.

Vidal is a complete midfielder I agree. He's good at everything a midfielder needs to do. Defensively he reads the game well. Good at tackling. Has a really nice range of passing. Can shoot from outside the box too relatively accurately. Good with two feet. Quick. Great pair of lungs on him. Takes a nice penalty as well.

He's quite unique though and it depends on what the manager wants as to whether they'd be interested. He's box to box in the literal sense. Like you say though there's probably concern about damage done to his knee. There isn't many midfielders who can do what Vidal can do. Probably Schweinsteiger is the closest in terms of type though Schweinsteiger is probably marginally better. Modric has improved immensely defensively as well... other than that there isn't much in that mould.