Complete car crash of transfer negotiations. Apparently there is a new game available in the Mega Store, it's called 'Transfer Dealings'. The idea is that you have 2 months to buy players but do nothing until 4 hours before the deadline closes, if possible bid for anybody who plays in midfield - then stick a pin in and buy somebody at an inflated price, I can see it being a big seller. Not my idea of a Manchester United player and ultimately I don't think it will work out. All this clamour for a creative midfiekder. some of you tell me this is Carrick - somehow I think not.
Just a word about the way he handled himself throughout this summer saga. He's been the consummate professional, kept his own counsel, not spoken to the press about it, trained as normal, played our opening games with his usual level of commitment & then at the death handed in a transfer request, which cost him £2-3m on loyalty payments, in order to make it happen. It makes a refreshing change to see a player act in the right way in one of these situations. Gutted he's gone though, he's a player who's largely vastly underrated imo. Probably because we don't get as much air time as the CL outfits & some will just know him for his hair & that pair of old ex-red ****e ****ers on MOTD highlighting his elbows at any available opportunity. The lad won't disappoint, he's top drawer & all of a sudden people will start to realise it, when he gets your shirt on his back. Oh & thanks for giving us another £4m Moyes lad, once a ditherer, always a ditherer.........
Blues used to say the same thing about Elstone when Moyes was at Goodison mate. Martinez arrived & we signed 4 players in a week......... Woodward might be also culpable, but trust me - Moyes is a ditherer in the transfer market.
Like I said blame Moyes all you wish but the blames squarely on Woodward. This wouldn't have happened under Gill.
Absolutely. After all, it's not like Gill spent entire summers trying and failing to sign players like Ozil, Sahin, Sneijder, Robben, or Essien. His record of signing world class midfielders at Utd speaks for itself.
Ok, aside from us clearly needing the one more CM we allegedly tried for, now the dust has settled are we happy with how Fellaini can fit in? I think Kagawa will need some games now, he'll be at least afforded some protection by Fellaini and Carrick in a three man mid as the creative spark. Rooney and Nani or Valencia playing off RVP? Not too shabby that, Zaha and Wellbeck and Chico and Young to contribute. Attack wise it's all there and the defence is good. Now it's down to the management!
I think you're being unfair to Gill. According to Essien: âI had two trials at United, but I was seen as too small. I think Sir Alex was looking for a certain type of player and I wasnât the one then.â With regard to Oziel, Utd under Gill like Barca where after him but and lost out to Real so it was always going to be difficult to sign him. At least last time we 'apparently' were bidding unlike now. Fair comment on Sahin who Utd where tracking for a while but lost him to Real. With regard to Robben I thought it was Kenyon who scuppered that deal in order to allow Chelsea to hijack it? Hardly the fault of Gill if Kenyon used inside information to steal the lad.
I also don't ever recall us desperately throwing last minute bids about for random players under Gill. We signed Berbatov last minute but that was entirely down to Levy. The way the Hererra saga was played out was utterly embarrassing and unprofessional and it's down to Woodward. He should have known it would be an awkward singing and got the ball rolling in plenty of time. Instead he acted like Harry ****ing Redknapp on deadline day. Made the club look amateurs and proved that he is one.
I'm not talking about Essien's trial when he was about 14. I'm talking about when Gill bid £15 million for him and Chelsea got him for £24 million. As for Robben, our highest bid was £7 million, which we were told wouldn't have managed to get us a shirt with the player's name on it. And like you say, we tracked Sahin for months and could have had him before he went to Real and once he was there, but didn't meet the valuation or move quickly enough. Likewise with Sneijder and any other top midfielder we've tried to sign in the last three or four years when their club didn't want to sell them. In fact, the only big money signing Gill really managed to prise away from their club when they didn't want to sell was Berb, and that one went to the final minutes of the transfer window too. You may think I'm being unfair on Gill, but honestly mate you are being just as unfair on Woodward, making assumptions and colouring the view to suit your own views. Ultimately Moyes and Woodward have the hardest job in English football - SAF is the only manager since Paisley to have ever successfully strengthened the league champions in the summer window, and even he had plenty of 'no value in the market' moments over the years.
Because SAF wouldn't have bothered trying to sign anyone. He'd have looked at Herrera gone "£31m is too much" and held a press conference saying there was no value in the market. At least Moyes and Woodward tried to negotiate. Better to have tried and failed imo. Besides which, there's no evidence we did anything with the Herrera transfer other than make enquiries around three or four days ago. The only evidence of anything happening on transfer day was the three scammers who turned up at the La Liga offices, probably members of a betting syndicate trying to make money from gullible punters. Fair play to them tho - they did manage to fool much of the world's media (or at least SSN).
The whole transfer strategy was a mess. We have never conducted business like this before, we signed Berbatov last minute but our interest was well known. I can't make excuses for the bloke. We failed to get Fabregas weeks ago, why was everything subsequently done last minute? Even Fellaini could have allegedly been cheaper a few weeks back, everyone knew we wanted him. Get it done.
