Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
One of the more interesting transfer rumours of late that’s been in the news is the one that Emilio Izaguirre is apparently going to be leaving Celtic to join us at Old Trafford next season.
Being brutally honest here, I have not seen the Honduran play that much so can’t at this moment have any judgement on his playing ability. That being said though he had an impressive year in Glasgow and did win four player of the year awards as a result of his form last season playing at left back for Neil Lennon’s Celtic.
Whilst of course that’s impressive and great for him, I am sure one thing we can agree on is that the standard of play in Scotland’s top-flight is probably akin to what you’d see in the Championship.
Aside from the Old Firm sides, there is very little quality in the SPL and it could actually be argued that teams such as Middlesbrough, Leeds and Cardiff (to name a few Championship sides) would at worst finish third behind Glasgow’s big two.
Due to that, sometimes players for Celtic and Rangers can often look ‘better’ than they actually are and when they play in England disappoint and struggle to cope with English football. That’s just the harsh reality for some players
For instance Liam Miller who of course had a brief spell at United was touted as one of the best young talents in Scottish Football in 2003. By early 2004, Sir Alex Ferguson had agreed a free transfer deal with the young Irishman that would see him join us the following summer right in time for the 2004/2005 season.
At the time there were alot of fans either the side of the border who were split on Miller and disagreed on whether he would be able to ‘cut it’ in England. Of course Miller, whilst never being a first choice didn’t fit in and in truth looked fairly ‘average.’
Of course that’s not to say he didn’t try to become a good player for us, but it just didn’t work out for him at Old Trafford. Although Miller did well at Leeds out on loan and enjoyed some success at Sunderland and QPR he never really established himself in England and went back to Scotland to play for Hibernian.
So as much as Izaguirre has been talking himself up of a move to us, we really can only be sure if he’s ‘Manchester United’ quality if he actually signs for us and plays
Sir Alex will be wary of this and if we do sign the 25 year-old, then we will have to trust his judgement and give the lad time to bed into life in England, as it will be challenge for him to adapt to the pace and intensity of the Premier League.
Whether we need Izaguirre of course is another matter though as there are better left-backs out there who we could sign to be back-up to Patrice Evra. This could be an interesting story to watch over the coming weeks that’s for sure.
By Adam Dennehey – @ADennehey87
