The Manchester United Thread

[zzeezzy]

The rumour mill is going strong now, Coentrao is apparently near enough certain because Real Madrid have nearly completed a deal for Moreno.

United are planning to bring Garay in this window due to other interest in the player, despite their intentions of leaving it till the summer. Apparently according to Sky Italia we've made contacts with Inter over Guarin... cue the love and praise from United fans for him now.

All I would say is that despite all these rumours, to me it doesn't make sense losing a CM in Anderson when we're lacking anyway, no matter how bad he was. We now only have Fletcher, Carrick, Fellaini and Cleverley... unless we rely on Giggs. But Fletcher has only just come back from a long spell on the sidelines, meaning we're very short if one of them gets injured.

 

[sunilvk7]

Even Steven Gerrard once said Joe Cole was better than Messi ...

Praising your own teammate is different from players like Xavi praising opponent.. If you can't see the difference then I can't help.

Also Gerrard didn't say Cole was better than Messi, he said doing tricks in training.

“[Lionel] Messi can do some amazing things, but anything he can do Joe can do as well, if not better. He used to shock us in training by doing footy tricks with a golf ball that most players can’t even do with a football. I really fancy Joe for the [player of the year] award this season.”

 

[TJD07]

Praising your own teammate is different from players like Xavi praising opponent.. If you can't see the difference then I can't help.

Also Gerrard didn't say Cole was better than Messi, he said doing tricks in training.

Thing is you could quite easily find quotes from most top players praising some other top player, I wouldn't get all that excited over it.
Taking nothing from Scholes though, I agree he was one of the best players in the world for what he offered a team.

 

[sunilvk7]

Thing is you could quite easily find quotes from most top players praising some other top player, I wouldn't get all that excited over it.
Taking nothing from Scholes though, I agree he was one of the best players in the world for what he offered a team.

I know. But how many players can command respect like this?

"After the final whistle on Saturday, Xavi, Messi, Pedro, Iniesta and Busquets all wanted to swap shirts with Scholes, so they drew straws and Iniesta won and got to swap with him. There is a lot of talk about him retiring so they were feeling like it could be the last time they play against him.

Also, the same story says that Busquets had hung on to the match ball and gave it to Scholes. For players like the 5 mentioned, and the esteem people hold them in, to take time out of their celebrations says a lot. It shows the class and humility of the Barca players for starters. But it also says a lot about the esteem that Scholes is held in amongst his peers and those who have played against him.

 

[dasty]

Not sure about selling Anderson. Unless we are absolutely bringing a new midfielder in why would we sell the very few (although not exactly great) options that we have? And if he's gone who would be cleaning up the leftovers in the canteen?

 

[sunilvk7]

Not sure about selling Anderson. Unless we are absolutely bringing a new midfielder in why would we sell the very few (although not exactly great) options that we have? And if he's gone who would be cleaning up the leftovers in the canteen?

Yeah but at least it proves one thing, that Moyes has started selling deadwood and he will get his own players, if not in Jan then in Summer window.

Anderson is gone on loan with option to buy.
Rio is gone for sure.
Very likely Fabio is off too.
Evra might leave in summer.
Giggs might not be given new contract so he will continue full time on coaching.
Buttner was offered to various clubs too.

Apart from these there is every chance that Hernandez might leave with lack of playing time and maybe Young too.

Roughly it's around 350-400K off the wage bill.

 

[Umarrii]

Am I right to dream every night of Gundogan playing at Man Utd? For some reason it seems like a match made in heaven to me :3

 

[Theatreof Dreams]

The rumour mill is going strong now, Coentrao is apparently near enough certain because Real Madrid have nearly completed a deal for Moreno.

United are planning to bring Garay in this window due to other interest in the player, despite their intentions of leaving it till the summer. Apparently according to Sky Italia we've made contacts with Inter over Guarin... cue the love and praise from United fans for him now.

All I would say is that despite all these rumours, to me it doesn't make sense losing a CM in Anderson when we're lacking anyway, no matter how bad he was. We now only have Fletcher, Carrick, Fellaini and Cleverley... unless we rely on Giggs. But Fletcher has only just come back from a long spell on the sidelines, meaning we're very short if one of them gets injured.

The last I read is that Garay has already ageed deal with some Russian club that includes Rodrigo the Spanish striker in a double deal for a combined fee of 37m euros. And inter not selling guarin now that's why Chelsea went for matic.

 

[sunilvk7]

Am I right to dream every night of Gundogan playing at Man Utd? For some reason it seems like a match made in heaven to me :3

If this helps

Back in 2011..

It wasn't always like that. Back in 2011, just two summers ago, Gundogan was certainly on United's radar, when he was playing for FC Nuremburg.

As this report from the time shows, Gundogan was happy to hear the news the Red Devils were interested. He was quoted as saying:
"Manchester United would obviously be a dream club."

 

[Alcaraz]

Praising your own teammate is different from players like Xavi praising opponent.. If you can't see the difference then I can't help.

Also Gerrard didn't say Cole was better than Messi, he said doing tricks in training.

Yet Scholes barely ever got a vote whenever he was nominated for the Ballon D' Or or whatever it was called then. Obviously this reverence for him didnt translate into anything tangible

Anyways I never disputed that he was a world-class player at one point in time. But some people go too far in their praise of him especially towards the end of his career. He is a great player but there are better midfielders

And look I am more than happy to agree to disagree as I really don't want to start another debate here again

 

[Alcaraz]

Yeah but at least it proves one thing, that Moyes has started selling deadwood and he will get his own players, if not in Jan then in Summer window.

Anderson is gone on loan with option to buy.
Rio is gone for sure.
Very likely Fabio is off too.
Evra might leave in summer.
Giggs might not be given new contract so he will continue full time on coaching.
Buttner was offered to various clubs too.

Apart from these there is every chance that Hernandez might leave with lack of playing time and maybe Young too.

Roughly it's around 350-400K off the wage bill.

It would have been better to wait till the summer and secure CL qualification first before starting to sell deadwood. You will be hard-pressed to find quality replacements for Anderson now since CL qualification next season isn't exactly assured and Moyes isn't that big a name either. Plus it's January where everything is either not for sale or horribly over-priced

 

[Umarrii]

Yet Scholes barely ever got a vote whenever he was nominated for the Ballon D' Or or whatever it was called then. Obviously this reverence for him didnt translate into anything tangible

Just wanted to say, Scholes is from Oldham, as am I, and no one gives a fuss about getting recognition. People here would rather avoid it :L

 

[sunilvk7]

Yet Scholes barely ever got a vote whenever he was nominated for the Ballon D' Or or whatever it was called then. Obviously this reverence for him didnt translate into anything tangible

Anyways I never disputed that he was a world-class player at one point in time. But some people go too far in their praise of him especially towards the end of his career. He is a great player but there are better midfielders

And look I am more than happy to agree to disagree as I really don't want to start another debate here again

Casillas even though played only 3 league games was voted as 2nd best goal keeper in the world. I don't give a **** about award voted by clueless players and voted with agendas.

 

[sunilvk7]

It would have been better to wait till the summer and secure CL qualification first before starting to sell deadwood. You will be hard-pressed to find quality replacements for Anderson now since CL qualification next season isn't exactly assured and Moyes isn't that big a name either. Plus it's January where everything is either not for sale or horribly over-priced

Not sure what's the point of the bold part you keep on repeating everytime. You can sign any player except very few even without CL football if you can throw up enough cash in wages and agent fee. Point exactly proved by Chelsea, City, PSG and Monaco.

Obviously we can't sign few players who are at very top but players we could have signed with CL football can be signed even without CL football for one season (if we don't qualify).

Didn't vertonghen reject Arsenal to sign for Spurs even though Arsenal were in CL and Spurs weren't?

 

[Vanjagl]

Not sure what's the point of the bold part you keep on repeating everytime. You can sign any player except very few even without CL football if you can throw up enough cash in wages and agent fee. Point exactly proved by Chelsea, City, PSG and Monaco.

Stop talking sense!

 

[Sherkey]

Any truth about the rumours that Rafael may leave in the summer too? Unconfirmed rumours, but nevertheless, that's worrying..

 

[Alcaraz]

Not sure what's the point of the bold part you keep on repeating everytime. You can sign any player except very few even without CL football if you can throw up enough cash in wages and agent fee. Point exactly proved by Chelsea, City, PSG and Monaco.

Obviously we can't sign few players who are at very top but players we could have signed with CL football can be signed even without CL football for one season (if we don't qualify).

Didn't vertonghen reject Arsenal to sign for Spurs even though Arsenal were in CL and Spurs weren't?

Mate I just said its more ideal to sell deadwood in the summer rather than in January ... I am sure you will agree. Moyes will be hard-pressed to find replacements in January regardless of whether or not United can assure CL football next season

 

[Alcaraz]

Casillas even though played only 3 league games was voted as 2nd best goal keeper in the world. I don't give a **** about award voted by clueless players and voted with agendas.

Now you just created a paradox. First you point to statements made by opposing players to justify Scholes' greatness and then you turn around and call the very same players 'clueless' ... Agreed that the Ballon D' Or votes is not the perfect way of ranking players but still, for a player people call one of the best midfielders ever, it's pretty interesting that he hardly ever got a vote

 

[Joel`]

Mate I just said its more ideal to sell deadwood in the summer rather than in January ... I am sure you will agree. Moyes will be hard-pressed to find replacements in January regardless of whether or not United can assure CL football next season

And thus maybe we can conclude Moyes has thought of this and is confident of replacements. Or, since having a midfielder who can only play 45 mins a game isn't incredibly useful, loaning him out to find fitness/form for half a year is more productive than having Evra forever taunting him with burgers. Fletcher, Cleverley, Giggs, Jones, Carrick and even Rooney if we were desperate can fill in.

 

[Alcaraz]

My point is this: Keep your squad intact and assure yourself of a CL place next season. Then you can start rejuvenating your squad in earnest without having to pay huges wages and transfer fees to attract quality replacements. Don't start selling off your deadwood in January especially in a position where you are weakest and lack depth because you will be hard-pressed to find quality replacements