This won't be the first time that I have seen this story but the Daily Star (oh yes, that trash paper) is carrying a story that James Rodriquez is being offered to us for £60m. Real MADrid must think the mug of everyone else in the world of football. Why on earth should United pay £60m for another one of their rejects, especially after Di Maria. I really hope that we are smart enough to not start throwing money around again to try and buy to succeed. That method has failed us so miserably over the past few years. And even when Fergie was at the helm, he added one of two players to the roster. He didn't need to spend £120m to suggest we were ready to compete. With that said, I'd take him for £30m with the fees rising to £40m if he wins Champions League and Premier League for us within the first 2 seasons!
Decent player, certainly worth signing and won't be bogged down by Euro 16 so that makes things easier. £60 million though? That's the type of figure that should be attached to Suarez for instance, not Rodriguez. Half that I reckon, even then it's mad money. As always.
I never like the idea of taking on a player who has been virtually thrown out as surplus to requirements. If RM have sat down and looked at their squad and decided he's not good enough to play for them, then why on earth should we take him. It's quite a different thing if a player has come to the end of his contract and is looking for another club, but this smacks of another Di Maria - another player who sulks because they didn't want to leave.
if anything Leicester or Tottenham or Atletico have proven is that you need players who play for the team more than big money world class players James career in Real madrid was average .. I hardly remember anyone who been sold by Real did better elsewhere .. 60m for such a player is a waste of money.. he is not even worth 30m from what I seen in Real . I think UTD need a CB, a creative DM to replace Carrick, another striker and possibly a right winger who can score goals.. our attacking mid is not a priority , we have Rooney, Mata, and Lingarad all fighting for that one position ... if we want one, I rather pay that 60m to Griezmann, he is far better
Not always the case for Real - we could have had Sneijder for £12 million in 2009, a year before he won the CL and we were chasing him for £30 million. Similarly Van der Vaart, Higuain, Ozil and Alonso have all gone on to do well at other clubs after being deemed surplus at Madrid. Also Robben, De Bruyne, Carvalho, Lukaku, Matic (1st time around) from Chelsea - all deemed to no longer be needed and all went on to bigger and better things, performance wise, once they left. The simple fact is that clubs like Real and Chelsea change their players as often as they change their manager, so the fact they are selling players is more to do with the new manager's view than to do with the players. James was signed by Ancelotti, now Zidane wants to play a different way. And remember that we could spend similar amounts of money to pry a player away from their club in the face of major resistance, and be left with a donkey like Torres or Carroll. Personally I think he'd be a good signing, although as Chief says £60m is verging on silly money. In all likelihood that's just Real hoping they can pull one over on us as with Di Maria, and the actual fee will end up being much lower.
I am very sure most of the so called big clubs are now well aware of how the Leicesters and Atleticos of this world make do without throwing silly money around. Most of these big names from Spain and Italy often lack what it takes to hit the ground running in Premier League. Yet clubs continue to find very nice gems out of France even though the league is considered inferior. Even here at home - I still remember watching Vardy's devastating display in our 5-3 loss to Leicester and trying to figure out who the fk the demon was. Only for him to get even better and win them the league. And we all know about the story of Mahrez. This is why I would love to see more players come through our youth ranks than throwing money at the Di Marias of the world. If Rodriguez comes in at £30-35m, Sureee!! But definitely not £60m.
I really don't think money is the problem to be honest. You can buy a £40m dud or a £15m dud. You can buy a £40m hit or a £15m hit. It all comes down to good scouting, a manager with a good eye for the player he needs to fit his squad, and the player to have the right attitude. Whether that comes from Real Madrid or Nottingham Forest doesn't matter one iota to me. This idea that just because they're being bought from Real Madrid, they must be rejects is just as bad as thinking, being bought from Real Madrid they must be world class.
I definitely agree with the first part of your post that money isn't so much the issue. Silly money is! Scouting, cultural fit for both club and league and vision takes a back sit when rebuilding is always attributed to buying with silly money. You look at the silly money City has thrown at buying defenders and you have to wonder. Price tag of £50-60m on John Stones even after a well below average season. As for Real, if they are offering a player to another, that player is their reject regardless of how we cut it. Thus, no one should meet their ridiculous evaluation. Reasonable fee? Then yes.
How does a lower fee suddenly stop said player from being a reject? So if we pay £60m for James he's a reject and ****, but if we pay £30m he's a good player and a worthy signing? I don't think the price tag guarantees anything. Picking up on what you said, it's not the silly money that matters, it's how it's thrown about.
A lower fee would not change the fact that the said player is surplus to requirement. What I was suggesting, however, is that if a seller in any transaction, in this case Real, is desperate to get rid of a product, then you can expect the fee to be at least below what was initially paid for the product and in this case, £60m does not represent fair value. If he is worth that price tag they've slapped on him, then surely he should be indispensable to them rather than being offered to be taken off their hands.
Yes but I don't really care how much we pay as long as the player is good for us and suitable for the positions we need to fill. If James is a reject does it matter, as long as he improves our team? I don't think so, and whether he does or he doesn't won't be affected by the price. I'll go further and say that under Fergie, Di Maria would have been immense. In fact under most managers. You could bring Messi to Old Trafford and I'd wonder if he'd be any good under Van Gaal.
indeed, not to mention kante too ..and many other players playing for Leicester this season no matter how skillful a player is , if he don't give it 100% .. he is useless ..
He's not even that good. He had a good world cup and everyone creamed over him. Then he went to big club and pretty much failed miserably - he's certainly not set up for the PL battle.
Don't forget that Veron was useless under Fergie. He was just as skillful as Di Maria, and better as a playmaker. Di Maria is a bottler the way I see it. We keep blaming LvG for why certain players fail. This is the same team that as seen not one, but three under 20 players shine greatly. Hazard was great under Jose last season. What happened to him this season? The drive was simple not there is what happened. Also, how good was Ozil in his first season? He failed! He then buckled up and started to prosper. A world class player with drive/good attitude (a point that you mentioned earlier) would succeed regardless of the manager. As for not caring about how much we pay for players... I certainly do. Football has become vastly wasteful by being flushed with stupid money to the point that it has took away the joy of actually earning victories through grit and passion.
Veron is a poor example, he performed well in the CL and was clearly more suited to the continental style of football. All managers will get it wrong, that's not really what I'm getting at. Veron had a fair crack under Fergie and didn't live up to expectations in the domestic side of the game. Di Maria is different. This is a guy who shone at his previous club and was pivotal in them winning a European Cup. He then came to United and ended up dropping deep to collect the ball because the pace of play was so slow. We didn't play to his strengths and that hindered him. Granted he lost his rag with LVG but this is a seasoned professional and was at the time we bought him, a world class talent. Maybe he just had the balls to do so? We've had three under 20 players shine, despite LVG, not because of him. Put the three of them under a proper manager and watch the progress they make.
You are making far too much excuses for Di Maria and I don't buy it. You're still blaming LvG for Di Maria. Not every conversation we have about our players have to turn into LvG's fault or credit to him. Di Maria bottled it, pure and simple. There are no two ways about it, Treble. A sign of a terrible cultural fit is a guy that will always btch and morn about how the team is not playing to his fkn strength. What I would say to a player like that? "Shut up and get on with it, son!". Talent without the right attitude to success regardless is always problematic. This is where I would give Veron better credit because he did give it a fair crack. Another perfect example of bad attitude is Hazard this season. Also, look at Pedro. He has had two managers at Chelsea and he still remains garbage compared to what was expected of him. And credit to us for not taking him when he was clearly not needed at Barca. So no! If a player has the right attitude, things tend to even out for them the course of the season. This is especially why I like Fellaini. For all his lack of golden touch, he plays with passion and attitude that too many of our players lacked all season.
Yup so garbage he has more goals and assists than all your players minus Martial, Rooney and Mata. So more than your brilliantly performing u20 players (lingard and rashford) and more than the brilliant Herrera or mophead felleini. Anyway as for Di Maria he is clearly talented and it is clear he doesn't fit into this slow cumbersome style LVG has got you guys playing of pass to static players. The only player to really shine this season has been Martial and that's because he's a brilliant player who is strong, fast and skillful and can pretty much skin his right back.
