The Manchester United Transfer Conundrum

So yeh, it has been a while since I last blogged and what a crazy year for Premiership football. A team who had lost six times won the league - the bar that Wenger had set in 2004 of losing no matches had been ridiculously exploited. Even more worrying was United coming second with seven defeats by one point. If they had beaten Burnley at Turf Moor then it would have been their title. But the title race is always full of what ifs! The fact that the Premiership was being courted by three teams having poor seasons both domestically and in Europe may have something to do with the Copperfield like combustion of England in the World Cup. If Rafael had stayed on the pitch against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford then he would have cleared Robben's shot off the line as it went in at 'his' post which he would have been marking. What if...what if!?

With all this in mind, you would have expected some big transfers coming in to England. For me, this current transfer window has been poor. Liverpool have signed Joe Cole and Chelsea ludicrously replaced him with Benayoun from Anfield. However, at the time of writing, the blues are about to snap up the impressive Ramires for £17 million. Arsenal have done it predictably...signed two unknowns from France. Wenger will probably sell them on in three or four years time for £17879 million each, is such his talent in the French transfer market. I am looking forward to seeing Chamakh...he seems to be full of pace, power and instinct...everything which Adebayor is not. Sir Alex Ferguson has been canny in one signing and misjudged in another. The Little Pea 'Chicarito' (ridiculous that his shirt will have that on the back of it!) was signed before the World Cup for an encouraging in-todays-market-a-cheap-snip-at £7m....the same fee paid for then club record signing Andy Cole in 1995. The other was Chris Smalling from Fulham for £8m. He played one good game against Chelsea and United signed him. He then went on to have a calamitous few months after confirming the transfer where he scored own goals, was badly caught out of position and I believe sent off.

These two transfers signify two things. Ferguson's ability to purchase a hidden talent at a cheap price (yes, 7 million is cheap today) and the ability to take a chance on someone and hope it pays off. Over the years, Ferguson has been great at buying on a relative shoestring - Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Solskjaer, Ronaldo and even Rooney. Javier Hernandez (that's what his birth certificate will say) may certainly fall in to this category if he continues to perform the way he has done in his fledgling career with fantastic goals against a Major League all star team and then against United in a friendly for his previous club Chivas. He scored two cracking goals in the World Cup to show he could cope on the world stage. By getting him before the World Cup, Ferguson saved himself about £10m at least. He is all set to become a wonderful player and a new Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - what a legend! If he hits it off with Rooney and they both stay injury-free, then United may have a new Yorke and Cole, Law and Best and Gamble and Haw (ask Southport fans on that last one).

Chris Smalling on the other hand has a lot to answer for! On the United tour to America this summer he gave away a penalty, got outpaced for a goal and was constantly bullied by more bulkier front men. However, he did score a headed goal from a corner against Chivas and shows he could be destructive at set-plays...if he plays. Vidic, Evans, Brown, Ferdinand and O'Shea will all be ahead of him should that quintet stay injury free. I believe the fee was too much and United fans will remember one signing, although a trialist, who came with a good reputation but was atrocious - William Prunier. He could not defend his house from a lego soldier. I really hope Smalling does not fall in to this same trap. I hope he proves me wrong. I hope he scores fifteen goals this season. I hope he keeps a clean sheet in every game. I hope he likes sitting on the bench though.

Where United are particularly weak on paper right now is in the middle of the park. Carrick looks half a yard too slow and was at fault for two of the goals in the quarter final against Bayern Munich. He needs to have a big season or else he may find himself sold next summer, if not in January. Paul Scholes is a United legend and the complete midfielder. Inevitably at 35 his legs are going and can only play one game a week-ten days. When on song, he is untouchable - the best midfielder in the league. This was proved by Capello's rather embarrassing begging to bring him back in to the international fold. Owen Hargreaves is crocked which is a shame because, along with Ronaldo, he was probably United's most consistent performer in the 2007-2008 season. A great midfielder who can tackle, pass, graft and score, his absence has been sorely missed. Darron Gibson is a player who likes to pass the ball forward and shoot on sight. If he could add an engine to his game he could be a great player. Darren Fletcher has turned in to a superb player and the second one down on the team sheet. What he does well is that he can turn creative when things are not going right. He ripped Man City apart at Old Trafford last season in the league. His power in running late in to box earned him a few goals too.

Why haven't United bid for Mesut Ozil of Werder Bremen? He was arguably the best player at the world cup. Not only is he as white as a sheet, his nickname is actually 'the ghost' (!), as he runs in between the two banks of four and pretty much in behind anyone he can. He creates and scores and is a menace. He plays like Scholes did in 2003, breaking lines and constantly being in areas where he is unmarked. If this guy doesn't have 'Man United player' written all over him, then Eric Cantona was shit.

One thing which has come out of the recent tour is United have all of a sudden, got some fresh youth in the ranks - this may explain why Ferguson has not bought. Every team in the Premiership now has to register 25 players - 8 of which have to have played 3 or more years in thats clubs youth section. Cleverley was outstanding, quick, linked up well and got a couple of goals. Macheda smashed two in against the all star team and Ferguson declared him 'United's best finisher. I expect him to score when he gets in one on one positions'. No pressure Federico. He is still only 18 and is well built. He could be United's joker this season and I expect to see him play more. Rafael and Fabio are one more season mature which is good because Rafael may not get sent off this season for petulant offences. They both need to stay fit though.

With the addition of Ozil, I think United may have a squad that has a mix of everything - old heads, youth, talent, determination, aggression, goals, clean sheets and athleticism. If Nani can continue where he left off and Valencia can continue to place every cross on Rooney's head, then with Ozil, United have that creativity from the centre of the park that they need to unlock stern defences. My dad keeps raging that United need to spend big but if Ferguson is canny, he may be able to get Ozil on a good deal as he is a player with only twelve months left on his Werder Bremen contract.

Of course, he could sign for Arsenal tomorrow and this blog would have been a waste of time.

Manchester United - Arrogant or Confident?

Before I endulge fully in the context of this blog, I would like to remind you all that I am a massive Manchester United fan. I follow all the results, all the news, all the latest kit launches and all the latest signings deep down to wanting to know about the financial mess the club is in due to the takeover five years ago. During the 2006-2007 season when we reclaimed the league title, my family had a season ticket in the old scoreboard end in the top tier and I was able to watch some of the matches. Never have I been to an arena so splendid. By the way, out of all the players I saw at Old Trafford that season, Henrik Larsson was the one that stood out and the one I always tell my mates I was glad to have seen play. Although I did see Ronaldo smash that free kick in against the helpless David James!...it was quite erotic.

Anyway, that is neither here or there (and worrying). I write this blog on the day United have 'lost out' on another player to Real 'more money than there is in the whole world' Madrid. In this case, it's the French player Karim Benzema. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of him but thats not the point. Madrid are buying like gypsies in a car boot sale and they are buying big. The fact that Ronaldo went there is the main spine of this argument. In my opinion, United did very well to receive £80 million in one payment and a huge profit of £68 million in his original £12 million cost. What drives me mental is that many pundits have said, "Why would he want to move? He's at the biggest club in the world, the best club at the world". That is such a general statment and in todays football climate, it obviously is not true. The pundits on MUTV (United's own TV channel of which I am a subscriber) are of course going to be as bias as Russia were towards Communism, but all these comments of big and best just really yank my proverbial plank.

If United are to move forward as a club then they need to shake off this 'arrogance' tag that is quickly being labelled to them. Lets look at the facts. United are currently not the best team on the planet as so many writers and pundits have said. Barcelona are. They absolutely pumped us 2-0 in Rome with a side that is full of home based talent. United have won the European cup 3 times compared to Madrid's 8. United play in front of 76,000 fans, Madrid 90,000+. United is in Manchester which equals terrible weather and terrible accents, whilst Madrid is a baking hot city in a country full of amazing footballers and the ever increasing value of the Euro. Players like Ronaldo have achieved everything they could have at United, he won every domestic trophy, ever domestic award, the European Cup, World Club Cup and the European and World player awards so he had nothing left to achieve. OK, so United are better than Madrid right now but you can surely understand that Ronaldo is a man of considerable ambition as well as talent. He has been given an opportunity to turn Madrid into a force again and fulfil a lifetime ambiton of wearing that famous bird faeces coloured kit. Although I am disappointed by his departure, I am not surprised and being a huge fan of Sir Alex Ferguson, he always turns it around in United's favour as has been prooved by the departure of some top names in the past.

These top names have also jumped ship to Madrid including messers Beckham, Heinze and van Nistelrooy. Are Man United becoming an unofficial feeder club to Madrid!? It certainly seems that way! How can United be branded the biggest club in the world when their biggest names have left in recent years? Most importantly, they have all wanted to leave having their arguments with the fuhrer Ferguson. In time, Ferguson has been proved right and again I'm sure he will be once more but there does appear to be an arrogance that United is the best place to play in the world so why leave? Yes the club has a great history and yes the club is one of the biggest and top teams in the world but the best, the biggest? Right now, they are certainly not and right now, players will continue to be lured towards Madrid and the money. Kaka, Benzema and potentially Ribery are all proving this. They have all, reportedly, turned down United to join Madrid. Whilst, respectably, United have had to settle for a winger from Wigan!

Ronaldo is a great player, one of the best to play at Old Trafford and although the money is incredible, success at United is worth more than cash. However, every player has their value and every player has ambitions. His did not lie at United and that is why he went. Surely this shows that the best player in the world is not at the biggest and best club if he wants to leave. And if United are the biggest team in the world then why are none of the world's top players joining them?

Lets just hope that this arrogance does not come back to haunt United. Lets just hope that Nani actually plays football this year instead of comparing himself to Ronaldo and fancying him.