With Ashley Young’s £16 million move from Aston Villa all but finalised, it seems Sir Alex Ferguson is preparing for his biennial squad clean out. Over the years of his illustrious career at the Red Devils, some real class players have been brought in, flopped and then sold on at the club. Let us not forget the goalkeeper fiasco from a few years ago. So naturally after a few chances at the first team, Sir Alex deems if they’re worthy or not before sending them off.
With a huge club like Manchester United, it’s a necessary occurrence, if Man Utd kept all their injury plagued or just plain bad players for longer than they needed too, they would be limiting places in the squad for younger and newer players and losing money on wages putting them even more so in debt. Every player wants to do well, but with a £40,000 a week 5 year contract and a niggling knee problem, it’s not such a bad deal if you’re not playing. Throw in the possibility of the boot, sometimes a literal meaning in the Ferguson dressing room, can naturally encourage some sense of urgency to play.
Obviously after a 12th titles under Ferguson, there has been some brilliant players at Man Utd in recent years with Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Nani and this seasons surprise package Javier Hernandez, but for every up and coming Antonio Valencia, there’s a Michael Carrick on looking in despair.
With big names like Michael Owen, Obertan and Wes Brown on the chopping block and Ferguson finally getting rid of Owen Hargreaves, it looks like there’s going to be a lot of new faces at Old Trafford next season, Phil Jones and Young it seems for definite and names like Sergio Aguero and Luca Modric slipping from the corners of tight lipped Manchester insiders, a completely new dynamic looks set to come with it.
The big name leaving United this summer however looks set to be their Bulgarian top scorer Dimitar Berbatov. The myth that is Berbatov’s consistency is about as simple to the average fan as a rubix cube, but to baffle even Ferguson with a hat trick one week and a sulk the next is peculiar to say the least.
With a £30 million price tag with that however is unacceptable. An overpriced player leaving United is no unusual happening, see Ruud van Nistleroy and Cristiano Ronaldo, but where he goes with that price tag is difficult to foresee, because Chelsea have enough aging, moody strikers and Manchester City have more than enough spoilt internationals at the moment. Ferguson has moved onto buying younger players to build another super team to possibly leave as his legacy. A fitting gift to the next United manager who feels up to filling his boots. There are some positions that Ferguson needs to address urgently in the transfer window, signing a winger in Young and having two young centrebacks in Chris Smalling and Phil Jones is the first step in the Fergie rejuvenating process. Rooney and Hernandez have the front two sewn up with Bebe and Mame Diouf as maturing back up, therefore only the aging midfield is left to update. Young is a clear replacement for Ryan Giggs, but with Scholes retirement, it appears that Fletcher needs an incredible counterpart to share the load. Anderson has not yet been ridiculed by the Old Trafford fans, personally, he seems a powerful attacking midfielder with an appetite for getting stuck in, but after over 70 appearances and just 2 goals, which came in one game this season against Shalke, it looks like he might need to step up. So who will fill Scholes’ boots? A whole host of names have been thrown about in recent weeks, some with more credibility than others, but which one will it be? Jack Rodwell of Everton is a young defensive midfielder with a promising career ahead of him. Wesley Sneidjer is an accomplished Dutch midfielder, creative and proven winner. Luca Modric the skilful Tottenham Hotspur maestro has had a great season and looks like another great import from Harry Redknap, but is he really United calibre? These are my three picked from the depths of the gossip forums that seem most likely, on the other hand, my personal pick would be Real Madrids out of favour Kaka, down on his luck but still an incredible player in his own right, looking to move, is Manchester United so unlikely? Is it that far out of Fergusons reach? The summer transfer window will tell. ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more. To have a peak at the top SEVEN available FREE TRANSFERS this summer, click here.
Bebe & Diouf as maturing backup??? and Kaka to play in a 2 man c/midfield???? u avin a laugh????? another wannabe journo who knows f*ckall
exactly, lol
With only two of the new signings in,i think United already have an incredible team…an option would be Young playing as the support striker to Rooney leaving the flank open for Nani and Valencia with JH coming as the third striker when they need a goal…this having Berba,Owen and the few other youngsters as reserve…and in defence i see the same powerhouse line-up of Ev,Vid and Rio for at least 2 more years with Rafael,Smailing,Jones,Evans & Fabio as the main back-ups and easing in…even in goal i think its a safe bet that De Gea will be top for a long time…of course Fletch and Carrick is an establised pairing on the centre and they are good enough for the BPL…so the midfield will be key to address…the type of player brought in would certainly change the dynamic in the middle of the park…if they bring in a solely offesive playmaker then a dedicated destroyer might have to be around to counter that offensive balance…Fletch could transform into that guy…
I would give Tom Cleverley a chance to show his class,he is a really good player who will grow in that play maker roll.
Sign Sanchez & Modric or Nasri….plus I’m really looking forward to seeing Pogba, Morrison & Tunicliffe’s progression next season……let’s hope they get a few games next season……..& I forgot about Will Keane & John Cofie……The futures bright ……;-)
Clev-er-lee……..
Anderson has scored atleast four, he scored against tottenham the season Chelsea won the league, and scored against blackpool last game of the season, do your research
What an absolute pile of garbage.
Why don’t you look back over last season at Rooney’s track record and tell us who was inconsistent, or are you going to trundle out the same age-old excuses that always come to the fore to pardon ‘the great one’ for his frequent lapses in form and/or scoring? Rooney has been notorious throughout his career for his hot and cold streaks, almost as notorious as his inability to play well with just about any decent strike partner. And do we need to touch on his performances for England in recent years?
Berba sulks, you say? Despite being treated in the most abysmal fashion by his manager for the latter half of the season, especially given the favouritism and blind loyalty meted out to an out of form Rooney, the Bulgarian handled himself with absolute class and professionalism where others would have vented their spleen at being treated like crap, especially after being the form forward in the EPL up until the New Year and helping to keep United on track for a title. Without those inconsequential and ‘inconsistent’ goals from Berbatov, there would have been no 19th title.
Measure all that against Boy Wonder’s tantrum, greed and demands to be traded away to a ‘contender’ unless United ‘showed him’ that they were willing to provide him with the kind of personnel to win championships. Do team players act like this in your book?
I don’t recall Berba taking someone out with an elbow, missing what should have been an out and out suspension, and causing a huge backlash against the club (particularly after Fergie ferociously and idiotically leaped to his defence) that made United a laughing stock when legitimate gripes were voiced by the club in subsequent games. Nor do I recall Berbatov screaming a mouthful of abuse at a camera that resulted in a costly suspension.
I don’t recall Berbatov ever letting his side down through petulant and ill-tempered displays of behaviour that have cost his side through being sent off (A Rooney special) nor does Berbatov get embroiled in slanging matches on Twitter that involve challenging mindless morons to fights outside Old Trafford.
Berbatov is a decent and humble guy who’s very well grounded and doesn’t get involved in tacky issues or controversy. Measure that against Rooney the lout, who screwed around with pricey whores while his pregnant wife sat at home. Lovely guy to act as a role model for boys everywhere.
You’re as big an idiot as Rooney. Go find something constructive to write instead of recycling your invective against an individual who’s in another class altogether over Rooney, both as a player and as a person.
I also forgot to mention another point. If you look back over the season, Berbatov scored more deciding, or winning, goals than any other United player. So much for inconsistency, especially given how little playing time he was given in the latter half of the season.
Timbo
Very well said my friend.
Timbo,
I also forgot to mention Berbatov like chicarito is a credit to the football club.
Jones is an excellent buy, would love to see more british talent at the top clubs
hernandez actually scored more decisive goals then berbatov but my main point is that not only are united buying plenty of young talent but we need to promote a few from the academy three or 4 players from our fa youth cup winning team i think are capable and worthy of some premier league experience with ryan tunnicliffe, paul pogba, and ravel morrison in midfield and will keane upfront add them to the host of young players we are buying you have a very young average squad age yet still a lot of winning experience with players like vidic evra ferdinand rooney still plenty of experience and a hell of alot of potential to add into it. the future looks bright
the players will not close the gap on barcelona so why sign them.jones and young wouldnt even get on there bench.they are signing fabregas.snieder what the man is so one paced it is unreal.but plastic fans dont know that