There’s a reason why Sir Alex Ferguson travelled to France to take a look at Eden Hazard in action. The 21-year-old Belgian sensation is one of European football’s hottest properties and he’s currently in the midst of what’s sure to be his final season in the French League. Just about every top club has been linked to him at some stage, including: Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Spurs and Real Madrid. With so many potential suitors, you can hardly blame Sir Alex for wanting to see what the fuss is all about.
Hazard himself was surprised by Sir Alex’s appearance. After he was told that television camera’s showed footage of Sir Alex yawning during Lille’s performance he said: “I didn’t know he was here. Maybe he’s tired”.
It’s clear that there’s going to be a bidding war for his services in the summer. The question is this: should Manchester United get involved?
The first consideration should be the price. With so many interested parties, Lille hold all the cards and will be able to drive up his price to exorbitant figures. This plays into the hands of clubs like Manchester City, who have the money to outbid everybody else, but it’s not like United can’t hold their own in the financial stakes. Whether or not the club is willing to put up the £35-40m that it may take to snatch Hazard from Lille’s grip remains to be seen.
Then there’s another question: do United really need another winger? Ji-Sung Park’s career may be drawing to a close, but he’s still got another couple of seasons in him, Ryan Giggs is staying on for another year and then there’s Nani, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young. It’s not like United are short of options in this department. It doesn’t strike me that this is an area that really needs to be strengthened.
There may be those who will claim that Hazard could be deployed in the centre of midfield as a playmaker, but that to me makes little sense. Why break the bank to bring a player to your club only to play him out of position? If the Belgian does come to Old Trafford, surely he should be played down the wings where United will be able to get the most out of him?
It’s where his dribbling ability and tricky feet will be put to best use.
With plenty of great natural central-midfielders out there, it seems wasteful to spend on a winger. Moreover, as United don’t really need wingers it seems wasteful to spend on Eden Hazard. Perhaps it’s time to start focusing on the centre of midfield?
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No, not another winger.
Plus how do you know fergie went to see him and not someone else?
Few years back all eyes were on Quaresma and we ended up with a greasy haired portuguese Quaresma wannabe.
Yes and no I think our wingers are good enough but I also think teams would fear hazard, something we’ve been missing since Ronaldo, teams just dont fear us anymore
do yourself a favour and watch some of lille’s matches. he plays behind dimitri payet. in the hole.
Oh yes United do not need the next world class player, I believe he plays a very similar game to Rooney and thus would form an excellent partnership with him. With the fact Hernandez has been below par, he could be just what is needed to inject some extra pace and skill into the team. Plus I feel it would give Fergie a chance to rest Rooney in some of the smaller games at the end of the season when the fixtures pile up.