Over the last fortnight Manchester Untied have been heavily linked with a move for Arsenal’s want-away striker Robin van Persie. But let’s just wait and ask ourselves – is a striker really the priority for us?
Both our left-back and the centre-mid spots need reinforcement.
Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Anderson are the only senior centre-midfielders and with Anderson’s disappointing progress and Scholes’ limited capabilities in terms of games per week, a centre-mid should be our top priority.
A conventional centre-mid like Nuri Sahin or Yohan Cabaye is what we need, both of whom can be purchased for an amount well less than £15 million. Alike many fans I am really looking forward to watching Ryan Tunnicliffe get some first team action next season who’s been at United since the age of 9 and loves the club to the core.
You can see what it means to him to put on that red shirt even when he’s playing for the reserves or the U18s. A special mention for the 17-year old academy star from Norway, Mats Daehli who looks certain to make it big at United one day.
Second on the priority list is the left-back spot. Patrice Evra’s most recent performances have been something of a worry and with Fabio spending the next season on loan at Queens Park Rangers, we’re desperately short in that particular position. It could be the right time to sign an eventual replacement of Evra, someone like Aly Cissokho who perfectly fits in all of United’s requirements in a transfer target.
The Lyon left-back is 24, good going forward, a good defender and has great speed, strength and stamina. He provides good resale value and should cost around £16 million but Lyon wouldn’t want to let go of an opportunity to leech out as much as they can for the French international.
Cissokho is so good that he has the potential to be the world’s best left-back, so an interest in him is easily expected from all the top clubs in Europe. Baines, as we all know, is England’s number two after Ashley Cole, and has all the qualities to succeed at United. Robbie Brady and Tyler Blackett would be hoping to get a few chances in the domestic cup competitions.
Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell, both look promising signings and I cannot wait to see Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young/Nani, Antonio Valenica and Kagawa in the same team linking up together. The coming season is going to be as challenging as it gets.
Chelsea and Manchester City will be the major threats to our title bid and we would have to play a lot more positive football if we want to come out on top. The return of United captain and lion, Nemanja Vidic would give the attackers a little more confidence going forward knowing they’ve got a rock behind them to take care of business in the other end.
Everton away on the 20th August could not come sooner.
Uniteds kit sponors for the 2012 season remains AON. The growth of poker has statistically seen a greater involvement in football. Bwin has become Manchester Uniteds bookmaking and online gaming partner after signing a multi million pound deal that adds to the list of Uniteds sponsors. It follow the trend of premier league teams having a poker or gaiming sponsor
By Sriram Narasimhan @srinarasimhan
This is a very good article but falls down on one very important point.
That point is that our illustrious manager says the day of the midfield destroyer is dead, “you don't need a tackler anymore” is what Fergie has been quoted as saying.
While we the fans may be crying out for one, the only midfielders we are being connected with are AM's.
The LB position is another conundrum, United fan have been less than happy with Evra's performances since the 2010 world cup, and maybe even before that, some are saying he leaves our left side too open, and that he only looked good because of the speed and tackling of Vidic covering him. Fergie knows we need cover at LB, but the likes of Baines are not going to be happy warming a bench.
Aragorn is admin @ http://www.talkingreds.net
Aragorn – that point by Sir Alex might well be true, but we are in need of a midfielder and I'm sure if someone of the capability and build of Yaya Toure was available then we would want to sign that player. Saying that though you only have to look at Barca/Real who can have clever-holding midfielders. Xabi Alonso would fit United well (not that we'd sign him or that he'd want to play for us) and it's that clever player that we need. Cabaye certainly would fit the bill.
I am in agreement with you about Baines, i cannot see him joining us. He has to be starting every game if he's going to be Eng's left-back if Ashley Cole is unavailable and cannot come to us and sit on the bench – not that I think he would as I'd imagine him and Evra would play as much as Clichy and Kolarov do for Man City. I like the look of Lyon's Cisokho who at 24 would be a great long-term bet for the future.
We'd all like a good holding midfielder like a de Rossi or an M'Vila but I think Sir Alex is just going to use Scholes, Carrick and Anderson in that role with Jones providing cover. What we need is a fit Darren Fletcher. More than capable of playing that role for the next five years if his body permits. I don't think Sir Alex will buy a holding/defensive midfielder, just doesn't seem on the agenda at the moment.
I can't belive how many muppet supporters utd have,all the excitement about lucus moura on your boards,you really do buy into the man utd Propaganda machine that ol red nose will pay some £30m for him,wake up call for you it's all about selling tickets and merchandise,you only have to read about fergies recent brown nosing of the glazers and demonising of you fans who don't agree as unworthy supporters and to go support someone else to see this.and what sort of manager do you think you will attract to take over from fergie if he is not going to be given the funds to build his own squad?.how would you feel to see moura come to city,yet another “target”coming to us,see we put our money where our mouth is,you can't scream no value when you sell ronaldo for how much?.if you want to own a Bugatti veyron the best comes at a price same as players and you have to pay it,it's no good utd fans moaning about city's owners because I bet even the hardcore of you would swap our owners for yours in a heartbeat.man utd have had there time,now it's city's,you can't compete with us,Chelsea,real Madrid or Barcelona just like so many clubs in the past couldn't compete with you.we will dominate the league and you will become the new Liverpool.
Adam
You are undoubtedly right, but the fact remains that Ferguson still thinks that players like Carrick and Anderson are the way to go, you only have to watch United week in week out, to see how much we back off an attack, until we are literally defending backs to the wall on our own goal line.
Now some of that may change with the return of Vidic, a much more active defender.
This season I think we will have to prepare ourselves for more long periods of soaking up pressure, and then relying on the counter to get us the win.
Aragorn is admin @ www,talkingreds.net
SAF knows that this season is one where City and Chelsea will open up a gap on us.
We have declared our £40m transfer budget to Wall St and with salaries pegged to income, our team in 2 yrs will be pretty well as below with players out o pay for players in.
De Gea
Rafael -Jones-Smalling-new LB
Valencia-Kagawa-Anderson-Young
Rooney-Welbeck
That's it I'm afraid.
Should secure regular Champions League football and become the new Arsenal, no cups but fiscally restrained.
Look at Tampa Bay Buccaneers to how our owners invest in a team !!!
I have to admit that every point made in these comments is a very valid, yes we do need a fit Fletcher ( something that is very much long term), yes we do have an over reliance on Carrick and Scholes, and yes we do back off far too easily.
What we should be looking is a Scholes like player, who can tackle as well, is that too much to ask or will this be the role for Nick Powell eventually
Aragorn is admin @ http://www.talkingreds.net
BTW Thanks for allowing the link