Manchester United have been busy in the transfer market; they bought Angelo Rodriquez, Robin van Persie, Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell. All of which made sense. Than I saw this news: Alexander Büttner to Manchester United.
Butt… who?
I blinked and read the message again. Alexander Büttner to Manchester United. Wait, maybe he is going there as a supporter and wants Wayne Rooney or his compatriot RvP to sign some autographs. Or just a silly joke? But, no, it’s for real.
Only two years ago I heard about this guy who used to play in the foreign legion of Merab Jordania’s Vitesse Arnhem. I later found out he was a Dutchman instead of a wandering German. He was a hot topic when he made the pre-selection of the Dutch Euro squad. A desperate call for left back players had gone out, after Erik Pieters faced a hamstring injury just as manager van Marwijk picked his players for his infamous system.
Although he didn’t make it to the final selection, he must have some potential. This left-footed individual can play in several positions, but played last year as a left back. The 23-year-old, is a pit-bull on the field and can spray the ball about with ease. Alexander Büttner is just your ordinary neighbourhood kid who grew up not far away from Arnhem. At age 11 he travelled back and forth to Ajax, Amsterdam, to play for their youth teams. 5 years later he went to Vitesse.
“If a week ago, you told me that together with Robin van Persie I would be playing at Manchester United, I would have driven you straight to the madhouse,” was his first comment, when he was asked for it by the Mancunians (Source: Yahoo). His debut for Vitesse didn’t go well. He had to leave the pitch before the final whistle with two yellow cards. In the national play-offs of last season, he didn’t make a great impression. Vitesse owner Jordania refused to let him sign for Southampton, because of a commission asked by Büttner’s father. He was exiled to the second team and both parties wanted to take the dispute further. Instead of polishing the shoes of the players of the first team, he earned himself a transfer to a club, slightly bigger than Vitesse. He has already finished his first training at Old Trafford.
Ferguson is said to have followed the Dutch defender for some time and claims he is one of the best young full-backs in Europe. But can he really replace Evra? Here is my answer: 1. The left-back position is hard to fill 2. Man United are lowering their standards 3. Büttner is a diamond in the rough and only Ferguson can see through it.
What do you think of Manchester United’s new signing? Please react and/or follow me on Twitter at @AriFerrari010 (Tweets are in Dutch or English).
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Alexander is welzeker een talent, met name zijn gedrevenheid is een prima kwaliteit. Ik was teleurgesteld dat voor de EK Jetro Willems werd gesecteerd i.p.v. Alexander Buttner.
Mark my words: Alexander gaat het helemaal maken!
I do believe Buttner is better than Willems, he is indeed enthousiastic and has quality. Although there are not many good Dutch left-backs. I hope for Alexander he will make it at ManU, as you stated. That remains the question.