Gill: No More Signings

[Motterman]

Apparently, David Gill has signalled the end of United's summer buys with the capture of Heinze.

So - Heinze, Smith and Miller added to last year's squad then.

Discuss.

[Snuffles]

What happened to buying Gerrard? :D

[Achtung]

What happened to buying Gerrard? :D

I can't believe some of them actually bought the story too. ;)

[Rei de Boston]

Hummmm Smith, Heinze, Miller, and that young spanish fella. Hummm No sir, I don't like it. Is Gill saying that we were only that close from being champions of Europe and the Premership that we only need moderate cover? I mean I like our team a lot. I think the new signings have potential, however, if those three are it my opinion of this summer's dealings would be rock bottom.

[sch2383]

Assuming nobody misses a drug test this season, I like our team. That said, wasn't it the case that we were done with offseason moves last year and then signed Ronaldo? Or maybe Gill meant we were done until after Euro.

[Achtung]

Honestly I don't see what's wrong with this team:

-------Saha----Ruud-------
Giggs--Scholes--Keane--Ronaldo
Silvestre--Heinze--Rio--GNeville
-----------Howard-----------

Striker cover: Smith, Ole
Wing cover: Ole, Miller, Bellion
Central cover: Fletcher, Kleberson, Dj2, Miller, PNeville
Defense cover: O'Shea, Fortune, PNeville
Keeper cover: Carroll

No its not perfect, but it looks damn good and with the addition of at least one youth teamer, I think we've got a very solid side.

[ilv2]

i agree with achtung on all fronts except for the defense. I like our starting back line but we need another real top-quality defender on our bench. O'Shea, while he looked pretty good during the 02/03 campaign, dissapointed this year. Fortune is out of practice, and Phil Neville frankly is not much of a challenge for many strikers or mfs.

[Potomac Red Devil]

You guys are forgetting Brown as defensive cover on the bench. That's a pretty good quality defensive sub.

[prk166]

What happened to buying Gerrard? :D

The traitor quota has been filled by Smith. We'll have to wait until next year to rescue the lad. :p

[prk166]

Apparently the boys at Sky didn't pay attention to the announcement before linking ManUtd to another young pup, this time an Italian U-17 named Guiseppe Rossi, in this article

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=208213&cpid=21

[Salama]

Achtung,

Ole,Miller and Bellion are our wing cover and you don't see a problem? I think Smith and Ole are fine for cover at RW behind C.Ronaldo, but i'd really like to see a young LW signed to back up Giggs.

Kieran Richardson is an option, but right now we have the following Leftfooted players in the Midfield and Defence in our first team squad:
Giggs
O'Shea
Silvestre
Heinze

That's one winger and 3 defenders. If Richardson isn't ready to make the leap then this Morton Gamst Pedersen fellow might be a cheap option. Rothen is too old for this role, Vicente too good (Giggs can for sure start for this year and probably the next), and there's no real Left Winger tearing up the Prem. Milner would be a decent option too. Scholes is playing LW at Euro2004, so maybe he'll be the cover for Giggs, and Fletcher,Kleberson or Miller would just slot into Scholes' current role.

Other than that, I like our team. Up front we're strong, we have 2 great wingers, Keane and Scholes in the middle, with Fletcher,Miller and Klebs as cover, and the defense will be very very good. I'm excited about having 3 promising options to partner Rio, 3 promising options at LB, and a full season with a combination of Rio-G.Neville on the right side. Howard should be fine too.

I can't say i'm too surprised that Gill has said no more signings, as LW is the only position where we can sign a player and not have a player who's competed in a World Cup or European Cup moved to 3rd string (Other than Goalie).

[Achtung]

You guys are forgetting Brown as defensive cover on the bench. That's a pretty good quality defensive sub.

Ah right, forgot him. Yeah he'd arguably be above O'Shea in the defensive depth chart.

[Achtung]

Yes, I think we could techincally stand to have slightly more cover on the left wing, but unfortunately top-shelf left wingers are in short supply and high demand. As it is, we know Ronaldo can play on the left, and we'll have to go from there. Giggs had a relatively poor season, so we'll have to see how it goes. Also I forgot about Smith on the right, he can play there if needed.

It's not a perfect team, but you'd be hard-pressed to say that we're not going to do a fair amount better with that squad.

[Danks81]

There's a young left winger that plies his trade in Chicago who may interest Man Utd ...

[bigtoga]

We aren't through already in the second week of June no matter what Gill says...

There isn't a Euro club out ther ewho's finished their signings *before* Euro 2004! lol

Is it April 1? Ol' Gill-y's pulling a fast one on mourinho as a "welcome to the league" present :)

[Achtung]

There's a young left winger that plies his trade in Chicago who may interest Man Utd ...

Yeah much as I like DaMarcus Beasley, let's not go crazy here. When John Harkes asked Landon Donovan if he would be interested in Man United, Landon laughed and said that wasn't really a possibility. I doubt you'd get much better reaction from Beasley. Not to say that anyone really thought Howard would be as good as he has been for us, but I think DMB is still not at that level right now.

[United Forever]

I actually think that is all the signings we need . Well that is my opninion :)

[haven]

There's a tremendous amount of rationalizing going on here.

I think we all agreed, or almost all of us, that it was very important to get:

A. another left winger

and probably

B. a real, live DM under the age of 30.

If neither of those needs is met, then Gill and Fergie get a D- for their summer buys. I'd give them an F, but would like to see if Heinze/Smith work out.l

[Treetaliano]

Apparently the boys at Sky didn't pay attention to the announcement before linking ManUtd to another young pup, this time an Italian U-17 named Guiseppe Rossi, in this article

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=208213&cpid=21

Rossi is American.

He was born in and grew up in the states to an American mom and Italian father and have only been in Italy for about 3 years. Bastard chose the wrong country to represent internationally, seems like a natural fit for you Mancs ;)

[johno]

We were not 3/4 players away from success in England and Europe... we were one drug test away from it...

by adding Heinz we allow ourselves more cover in the back and when Fortune gets ready he is emergency cover for Giggs, but Ronaldo will be fine there and as said we have enough cover at RW for a short time although none of them is superior - but we will see how Miller does...

We do need DM cover but I honestly think we could still do pretty well without said cover... in games when Keane is rested I would like to see the 4-5-1 with Scholes as withdrawn striker and Kleberson/DjDJ alongside Fletcher in central midifield, the possesion and workrate of those fellows is enough to replace Keane, and with Saha, Ole and Smith on the bench we have enough fire power to make subs and get a goal if we need one...