Sir Alex expects summer buys Sir Alex Ferguson expects to sign "two or three" new players for Manchester United this summer. The manager revealed this during a press conference in New Jersey, where he announced the club’s pre-season tour of the USA. When asked if he expects to have the funds to strengthen his squad in the next transfer window, Sir Alex replied: “We have certain targets in mind at the moment anyway. I think two or three will be fulfilled, there’s no question about that. “The Glazer family have always been very supportive of our desires to improve the team.” The manager went on to talk about the club’s track record of acquiring top young players and developing them at Old Trafford. “What we are good at is bringing young players to the club, like Chicharito for example. If you look at how, over the last six to eight years, we’ve brought in young players like Ronaldo, Rooney – okay, one was seventeen, the other was eighteen – we’re good at that. I don’t see why we should change from what we’re good at. “We will continue [to buy players], without question, and when the opportunity does arrive and we identify the right young players, that’s the way we’ll go.” It remains to be seen which areas of the squad Sir Alex’s targets are intended for, although he did suggest his attacking ranks are currently well stocked. “In the present situation, with the likes of Chicharito, I think we have possibly some of the best young strikers in the country. Danny Welbeck, who’s at Sunderland at the moment, is an excellent young prospect. And the boy Mame Diouf who’s at Blackburn is another good prospect. “We’re particularly strong with young strikers at the moment for some strange reason. Sometimes it works that way.”
There was a media rumour in 2009 that after the signing of Berbatov we weren't going to spend big on signing players over the age of 26: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/17/manchester-united-transfer-policy It was never confirmed by anyone at the club, and the fact that no one is mentioning it in tandem with the suggested interest in de Rossi and Sneijder incidates that it's not seen as credible any more. But I guess what happens this summer with those two will be a good indicator of the accuracy of the claims.
http://www.tribalfootball.com/artic...-denies-man-utd-agreement-over-de-gea-1538661 Atletico Madrid president Cerezo denies Man Utd agreement over De Gea. Seems the deal isn't so done as first claimed.
You guessed it, they are unknown seems Utd have completed their shopping for this season with the aditions of rafaeal Leao and and angelo Henrequez Are you excited by these signings?
Moved to transfer chat. Rafael Leao is on loan until June and we've had an option for Henriquez since 2009 - just had to wait for him to be old enough to leave Chile. Try to keep up.
How exactly does it "seem" that we've completed our shopping? The transfer window is not even open yet! God nolhman, you really are an imbecile of the highest order.
One of the most stupid rumours so far from the Daily Mail. Must be a slow news day. 'Is Forlan on his way back to Old Trafford? Unsettled Atletico striker linked with former club Diego Forlan could make a sensational return to Manchester United after signalling his desire to leave Atletico Madrid. The 31-year-old striker has been involved in a bust-up with his manager, Quique Sanchez Flores, and the La Liga club are prepared to entertain offers of around ã9million for their star striker.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...t-return-Manchester-United.html#ixzz1Js9sdR5g Complete and utter tripe.
Bayern Munich have claimed they are on the brink of signing Manchester United goalkeeping target Manuel Neuer.
We are linked further with Ashley Young I see in the papers today. Would be happy enough for him to sign for several reasons, firstly he'd come reasonably cheap as only 12 months on his contract, secondly he's versatile, thirdly he's 25 years old and still young enough and finally he is a good player. However on the down side I'd worry if this was the height of our midfield purchases. Young would a good squad player and assert to the midfield supplementing Nani and Valencia, but we need a quality CM who can attack and replace Scholes. Young isn't that guy.
To me the link with Young seems to be driven more by his claims that he wants to leave for CL football. We're the only ones of the current top 4 who use out and out wingers in a 442 formation on a regular basis so the link is pretty natural. But I'm not sure if SAF will go for him - we already have Nani and Valencia so he wouldn't be first choice, and with Park still putting in a good shift in big games and Giggsy defying his age we don't necessarily need to strengthen the wings at this stage. Like you say, I'd rather we strengthened in CM rather than on the wings. Scholes and Carrick once again proved that they can't play together against City at the weekend, when they were both far to deep throughout the second half, and only Giggs has really impressed in the forward CM areas this season. I'd quite like to see Defour arrive and Cleverley promoted to the first team squad next season, with Scholes retiring.
Tend to agree Swarbs. Young would only improve our squad and is no better in my opinion than Nani and Valencia. Steven Defour comes highly rated and has went on the record last year saying he would gladly sign for Man Utd. However while clearly a good player his goal scoring record from CM is moderate. On another note just how many good young Belgium players have emerged over the last few seasons? Quite extraordinary.
That's true, although Liege seem to have been playing quite defensively in recent years, so maybe he'll get more scoring opportunities at United. Speaking of Belgian players, what do you reckon the chances are that De Laet and Vermijl may get some game time next year? I think De Laet has had a more impressive season than Evans, particularly given how badly Pompey were doing when he joined them. Vermijl has been impressive in the reserves, and is more naturally defense minded than Fabio, but he may get sent on loan before getting a chance in the first team.
To be honest I know very little about Vermijl's performances for the reserves so I cannot comment. De Laet on the other hand does interest me due to his performances for Portsmouth and his versatility across the back four. Interesting to note when he returns to Utd in the summer, he wants the opportunity to take the RB spot for himself. He said "I know that it isn't easy to be playing in the United defence because they have so much strength in depth, with Rio (Ferdinand), (Nemanja) Vidic and (Chris) Smalling doing well in the centre and probably the best left-back in the world in Patrice Evra on the other side, so the right-back spot is the one area I'm focusing on. Rafael da Silva is doing really well there this season, so all I can do is focus on my game and doing well for Portsmouth and see if I can challenge him next season." The competition with Rafael will only strengthen the overall defence and squad. Looking forward to it.
Hopefull De Laet can replace Brown in the squad next season - that way he'll get 15-20 games and may well move up the CB pecking order when Rio retires. I think Wes' legs have properly gone this season. It's always good to have four top class centre backs, and at least one of them should be versatile enough to fill in at RB or LB when needed.
Can see Brown leaving in the summer since his contract expires next April. Can't say I sorry too much as Wes hasn't been on top of his game for a while now. I wish Jonny Evans would put on a bit of weight and muscle in an effort to regain his confidence. A confident Evans on top of his game would provide very good competition to the other Utd CB's and again strength our defence considerably.
Schalke have confirmed that keeper Manuel Neuer has turned down the offer of a new contract, paving the way for him to move to Bayern Munich.
The Daily Mail (yes, I know) has reported that Tevez may be on his way to Inter Milan with Inter selling Sneijder to us to cover the cost of buying Tevez. Wouldn't that be the best bit of summer business for us ever? We get one of the best playmakers in the world, and City lose their only really effective striker. Please Bob let it be true
Bonjour ladies and gents. RE: Sneijder I have rarely seen the guy play so; can he play in the middle of a 4-4-2 without it turning into a more narrow diamond with him at the tip? Surely it would be best for us to pick a bit more of an all round box-to-box midfielder that offers a good attacking threat? Steven Defour has had a good few mentions since the get well letter from SAF but it's been pretty hush since then, and that was in 2009, nearly 2 years ago. Bastian Schweinsteiger would have been an excellent choice until he signed the bumper deal on his contract. What about the highly rated Javi Martinez? No one seems to be talking about him anymore. To be honest with you, unless both Hargreaves and Scholes leave in the summer, I can't see us doing much more than keeping hold of Cleverley. With a lot of talk as well about the progress of Paul Pogba then unless SAF gets a damn good deal maybe a new midfielder may not happen for years? I'd like to see the likes of Obertan and Bebe go the other way though; not just for the club, but for them too. It's pointless having players on the books that are gonna play a handful of cup games a year and nothing more. Just off the record though, one player I thoroughly enjoyed watching recently was a guy named Franco Jara. He's a striker come winger for Benfica; who has skill, tricks and a decent finish.
Sneijder can definitely play with wingers, but we'd need an energetic holding midfielder behind him if we're only playing with two CMs. Sneijder and Fletcher in a 442 could work much like Scholes and Keane used to - with Nani and Valencia on the wings we shouldn't get too narrow, although we might end up being a bit vulnerable at the back. If we get Sneijder and Ashley Young I can see us switching to a 4231, with Fletcher and Carrick / Anderson holding, Hernandez as the striker and three of Rooney, Sneijder, Nani, Young, Park and Valencia in between. Sneijder and Rooney have both played a bit on the wing before, so those three could interchange at will. Although I dunno how well Valencia would adapt to that formation. Our interest in Defour may have cooled as he's failed to be a consistent goal threat. With Anderson failing to score we can't really afford to have two attacking CMs who don't chip in with some goals. Martinez would be good but, like Schweinsteiger, he agreed a new contract in summer with a ã30m buy out clause. That's quite a lot for such a young player. I'm still hoping Scholes does leave in the summer - he just doesn't offer enough any more. Since he's dropped deep his passes aren't as incisive, and he offers almost nothing defensively. If Anderson can stay fit and Cleverley can bring his form form Wigan then we may be able to get away without a new attacking CM, but we'd be pinning a lot on two players who haven't really shown consistency at the top level yet. I'd prefer us to bring an experienced midfielder in, who can replace Carrick in a couple of years and give us some experience until Pogba and Tunnicliffe are ready to step up. I agree that Obertan should go, but I think Bebe is worth keeping for another season. He's only 20 so he's younger than most of the reserves and has gotten much better recently. And I doubt he's on a big contract, so I'd say keep him for another season (possibly loan him out) and see where he stands next year. If he doesn't make it into the first team squad within a couple of years, then let him go.
After the departure of GNev you reckon they'll be another Defender in? Isn't it going to be wierd seeing another player put on the number 2 shirt?
