Taken from the bbc sportsday liver thread: "German football magazine Kicker says Japan star Shinji Kagawa is set to join Manchester United for 15m euros (£12m) with the deal almost complete."
I'll tell you who we should buy: 1. Shinji Kagawa - This guy is a fantastic player. He hasn't got the talent upside that Eden Hazard has, but he could certainly be an important player for United. He has a great finish and his finesse passing game is Premier League quality. Someone like Wazza will fall in love with his creativity. Also it looks like he could be had for £15M which quite frankly would be a BARGAIN. 2. Kevin Strootman - This is the perfect replacement for Michael Carrick. A guy that can sit in front of the defence and ping the ball out to our wingers. AC Milan are also apparently interested in his talents though it looks like it will be difficult to ply him away from PSV.
3. Nuri Sahin Apparently he is available this summer, he was the Bundesliga player of the season in the 10/11 season with some fantastic performances in the central midfield role, he could be a great buy at a relatively cheap price but rumors suggest big spending Malaga and Inter Milan are both interested in him.
I don't know if this has already been posted on here ... but on the official united site there is a rumour that Pique has been linked with a return to O.T.
No chance in hell this happens... I would only buy him if Ferdinand is done but Rio still has a couple of good seasons in him. By which time Smalling or Jones will be ready to take over his role. (Not keen on Evans starting long term)
I would not beleive anything that official site says. Its corrupted with Hackers and Muppets. View attachment 14421
Anything come out of the Gaitan business? It sounded pretty real with talk of Fabio going there on loan with Macheda sold there to sweeten the deal.
Dortmunds manager or director has come out today and said Kagawa wants to play for man utd not for the money. Thats that deal done then, just awaiting official confirmation now. £12million rising to £17million with add ons for the second best attacking player in German football for the last 2 season ( Ribery number 1....barely ) and he wants to come here? Bargain.
Hope that makes you feel better! Bare in mind that Kagawa is older, plays for the German Champions, in a league that really only has two teams worth talking about (Dortmund and Bayern). Hazard is 21 and plays for Lille, in the french league, which I think is much more competitive, Ligue 1 has had a different champion every season for last 5 seasons. Where as Bayern and Dortmund dominate Bundesliga, having won 14 of the last 18 titles between them.
Strange when everyone else thinks the German league is a MUCH better/harder, and look at the PL most wins are UTD with the odd sugar daddy team and French Arse bringing up the numbers.
The top german teams ARE better than anything the french league has to offer yes. What Im saying is, there isnt any one or two TOP french teams, they have had a different team win their league the last 5 seasons, meaning its much more competitive. You could stick me in the barca squad and I would probably have better stats than someone who plays for say, QPR, doesnt mean im a better player, im just in a better team. Dortmund have two really tough games per season, Bayern home and Bayern away. Lille have to play Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier, Marseille, all tough games for them.
Hazard is about 2 years older. Huge difference. While Bayern has of course dominated the Bundesliga, winning some 21 times, there have been other champions like Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfB Stuttgart. While it could be argued that Ligue 1 is more competitive with more champions, starting in 2001-02, Lyon went on a massive seven season title winning run and damaged that so called reputation. Also Ligue 1 can be a boring league with teams not attacking to score goals. For example it often averages the fewest goals per game among the top five European leagues. In fact during the 2005â06 season it had only 2.1 goals a game, compared to the Bundesliga that season, which averaged 2.81 a game. Also the Bundesliga is also one of the top national leagues, currently ranked 3rd in Europe according to UEFA's league coefficient ranking, based on recent European performances. France where Lille are, is 5th. Lets not start on European competitions where only one French club has won the European Cup or CL. Very poor record when compared to the inferior German version. No doubting Hazard is a very good player, but for value if United sign the young Dortmund lad, we are getting a far better signing.
The German league ****s on the french league. It always has and always will. French league is only a slightly better standard than the dutch and portugese leagues. Germany are only just behind the PL and La Liga. They may of had different Champions for the last 5 years but Dortmund have won 2 b2b titles and Bayern have reach 2 of the last 3 CL finals. What exactly have any french club done in Europe since 2004?
Kagawas stats piss all over Hazards aswell and over similar numbers of games. Lets just say in a technically better, faster and tougher league such as the bundesliga ( compared to frances top league ) Kagawa stood out as probably the best number 10 in the division. Hazard did much the same but in an easier league that currently has a number of off field troubles but the rate was much less. He also scored over half his goals from the spot. Not criticism mind.
