If Wesley Sneijder does not sign for United will that be the end of the world? Quite simply â¦.. NO! Yes he is quality, but why do we need him? Is it because we need a creative CM? Or is it because we are now becoming obsessed with playing catch up with Barca? If it is the latter then United are committing professional suicide, they cannot base their whole manifest on the possibility of playing the said Barca once a year in a knockout competition. What they should be doing is concentrating on domestic dominance for the next decade, through development & achievement they will eventually compete against Barca (they are human, and are not invincible) on a MORE even plain. So back to Sneijder, yes he will, if he comes, be a quality addition to what is a wonderfully potential developing squad, but should we pursue him with such vigour and possibly paying way over the odds in transfer fees & salary in order to chase âWindmillsâ in the shape of Barca, when patience if prevailed will unearth the right man for the right price for that midfield role. Just a viewâ¦. Donât shoot me.
If Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson are worth £20m then Wesley Sneijder, who is arguably the World's best player in his position, is worth £35m. Ferguson isn't stupid. If he thinks Sneijder is worth that money then I trust him. You are right though, we would probably be favourites for the league with the squad we have now so it wouldn't be a disaster if he doesn't sign. If we do sign him though he would give us the creativity we have been lacking in the middle of midfield.
I think we have a number of options - we clearly need to improve our midfield creatively. We can do that directly by buying the likes of Sneijder or we could sign an outright DM, releasing the likes of Carrick from the defensive role he is mainly asked to play. Carrick created two goals last night and would likely get back towards his best form if he was allowed to play further forward.
I think the Torres transfer and ultimatley the Carrroll transfer to Liverpool has skewed the transfer fees, as both fees were well above their true value. as I said earlier United persuance of competing with Barca will drive up any quality players value, £35 for him if that goes through will be us getting off lightly when you reflect on it.
It won't matter if Fergie gets the best from Anderson and Gibson but if he can't pull off that miracle you will be very short in the attacking midfield area unless Fergie is considering Young. Snijder would be perfect for you, so I hope it doesn't happen.
i thought anderson played really well,him and carrick looked great together,and young was very impressive on his debut.
I read that he played well, Young is a good signing as is Jones, and obviously De Gea, with the current squad as it is we can mix things up, Carrick and Ando can regain their FULL potential, Fletcher too, so this is why I started this thread if Wes doesn't sign I am not overly concerned, but what I can see as an over obsession with Barca developing is, yes we need a CM of quality(we've all said this a gizillion times) i'm thinking long term and not getting taken to the cleaners with a fast; albeit a quality, solution. Again though £35m will be a good price in today's context, and if they can keep the salary under £200,000 then I'll be happy - And so should Wes!
Spot on. I have seen amd heard a lot of people say that United should be trying to close the gap on Barcelona. This is pointless in my opinion as we may not even play them next season or even the season after that. What SAF is doing is the right thing and that is to stay ahead of the English teams. So can we please stop talking about catching up with Barcelona and concentrate on staying ahead of the pack in the PL as SAF is doing.
We don't lack creativity. People percieve that we need goals from midfield, something that our central midfield doesn't really do. Personally I don't think getting in any midfielder is a necessity, and if we do, Sneijder is the wrong man.
I don't see anything wrong with the Barca comments - Utd should aim to compete with and beat the best. That's Barca at the moment.
I think getting in a CM is very important. Not necessarily Sneijder but someone who could improve our current central midfield, as it is significantly weaker than the rest of the squad. When the opposition play at tempo and move the ball quickly, we tend to get overrun in midfield. What's more, when we do get the ball back, we struggle to hold it against teams that play with energy. So I'd like to see a midfielder come in who is comfortable on the ball at all times, not just when the opposition is standing off. Also being able to stand toe to toe with opposing midfielders would be good as I don't feel that our current players always do so.
Barcelona are one of those special teams that come along once in a blue moon. To close the gap on them would require spending upwards of 500 million. Not even City can do that with the FFP rules coming into effect soon as they have work to do as it is to comply.
Spot on, the current midfield cannot handle a a pressing team and now everyone presses us, even ****ing Crawley Town!Sniejder would be fantastic IMO but we also lack bite, which I feel is as important as WS`s guile.
This Barca team didn't cost 500m. They have a core of 6-7 players that grew up together and were all taught to play a particular brand of football. That's the real lesson to learn from Barca's current dominance.
True but in the current market if you were to sign similar players that is what they would cost. I would rather see United's money spent on developing our youth to create great players rather than sign them.......just like Barcelona did incidentally. There is no quick fix to catch up with a team like Barca.
Barcelona can play the way they can purely because of the players that they have. They haven't always played this way, this isn't the Barcelona ethos that has been around for decades. At the moment, the right combination of players are ideal. The likes of Puyol and Iniesta and Xavi to name a few were around/just starting when Real were the dominant force across Europe early millennia. We could have beaten Barcelona at Wembley. They were better in possesion than us but all 3 of their goals were mistakes from our part. It took us one simple 1-2 and we opened them up easily and scored. There is no point trying to play like Barcelona do, they can only play that way because they have the players to play such a game. We have to develop our own game, one that plays at a high tempo and uses our wingers well in order to combat them. And you have to ask, do we have the players to do such a thing- the answer seems no, not quite, but it's not going to take something drastic to make us better. One player in the right position is it all it might take.
Signing players and developing them are not mutually exclusive in any way. If we spend £35m on Sneijder it doesn't mean the money will be taken from the youth setup's resources. We are already using plenty of money to develop players so that's not a problem. Barca's youth system is probably the best in football but still you have to say they have been incredibly lucky in how many brilliant players have come from there in the last 15 years or so. Failing to sign Sneijder wouldn't be the end of the world but certainly disappointing. A midfielder like him would improve our team a lot and I don't see anyone else who is anywhere near as good as him whom we could sign. It's not so much about catching Barca but improving the team, for domestic competitions as well as UCL. And in today's market where mediocre players ship for £20m+, £35m would be a reasonable fee for a players of his quality
valid points all, but trying to emulate Barca is not/should not be our main agenda, building solidly, developing the foundations, and cementing a stranglehold domestically should, I agree we should and can develop our own brand of football, when Liverpool were in their dominance we(United) didn't try and copy their style of play or use them as a yard stick, that was not and never has been United's agenda, so why should it be now with Barca? It hurt 2 years ago in Rome, it hurt again this year at Wembley, but United have to move on get over it, and deal with Barca when and if they meet them in the CL, till then they shouldn't be an issue for them. Im hope that Wes does sign and for th terms being bantered, but I hope it's long term and not a quick fix, and for the team not one competition. I'll take 20, 21, 22, ...... etc over 4, 5, 6, ...etc
