Man Utd January '06 Transfer Targets and Rumours Thread

the last thing i heard is that the fifa decision would be made at the end of october, that was about a month ago..

 

Honestly, I would love to have Obi just so he can hopefully displace Liam Miller.

As I have stated before: Ballack>>>>Obi>>Miller>Adu

 

They're still waiting for the check to clear.

Translation: they (namely, Blatter) flat out do not want to take our side in such a big argument despite the glaring evidence we have, and do not want to deal with the ramifications that will come from Chelsea' legal team. Ergo, they are cowards.

My guess is that nothing will be done until after the January window, or until Chelsea find some loophole to swing the argument in their favour, at which time FIFA's decision will be made... and guess who it will favour?

And no, before a certain Chelsea fan () starts declaring how Blatter dislikes the Ruskies, I am not saying he is favouring them over us... Sepp & co just don't want to deal with the unprecedented legal battle that they can afford.

 

Our scouts were supposedly at the Lyon-Olympiakos game, and some of the Lyon players were particularly impressive...including Diarra. Hope the scouts took note of this, because he's just the sort of player we need at Old Trafford at the moment.

 

Soon to come, blatter complains that ManU's lawyers would've faired better had they shown more cleavage a la "woman's players should wear tighter shorts" comment.

 

I havent seen enough of Manuel Fernandes to pass judgement but he does have a wondeful reputation around Eurpoe. How did he do when Benfica came to Old Traffod?

Bodmer (Lille) on the other hand looks good. He has the prerequisites needed to be successful in England. He is physical, technical, and covers a lot of ground linking the defense and attack. From what I have seen, he is a natural box to box type…

Zokora, although not as physically gifted as Bodmer, is another option….

 

In my opinion he was Benficas best player. He was spreading the ball all over the place both with long ball across and with little passes. He also played pretty well defensively, he had a couple shots on goal from long range, they were not going in but were always dangerous if that makes any sense....

I think if Manchester United made a move for him it could only help Manchester United, but I am not sure if benfica really want to let that kid go anymore.

 

Makoun looks decent, although he would probably be just like Dj-Dj if we got him.

He does have skill and 'some' tackling ability though.

 

Shoulda hired Niki Taylor (the avatar).

 

Let's sell everyone and buy the entire Wigan squad.

 

...it would suit better if your name was 'FistStar'.

 

EJ who who does this ej the machine play for ?

 

Uh, we only need to sell Rio to raise that much money..

 

MILLER OFF ON A SEASON LOAN TO.................




























LEEDS

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2005510142,00.html

 

Sort of the same thing we're doing with Dong Fangzhou...sending him off to a feeder club.

 

Good. Now he can't waste a spot on the bench anymore. If we're going to put somebody that isn't ready/able on the bench, at least make it a youngster with promise like Gibson or Ritchie Jones. It is now blatant that David Jones' loan at Preston will nto be extended, and he will be back here on January 1st, and this bodes well for our chances of makign a move for a CM during the winter window.

 

It would be absolutely lunatic if we don't sign a polished central midfielder in January. I don't want to wait six years for us to stumble upon a replacement for Roy Keane, only to find that he too is approaching the end of his career and went to another club instead of United just around the time we began our search for the replacement.

 

The only question is... who? The top 3 guys I would like off the top of my head are Gattuso, Diarra & Mascherano, and none of them would be sold mid-season.

 

We could wait till the summer then I guess...although if we want to qualify for Europe this season we might want to get the midfield mess sorted out sooner than later.
The way I see it right now, there's no harm in having two players who could play in Keane's position. We could go in for someone like Graveson in the Jan transfer window...basically someone experienced and not yet past their best...and then in the summer it is imperative that we make that multimillion pound signing that we need to make our midfield world-class again.

 

Signing a world class CM is one thing (I hope we can attract one, though.. if the rest of our season falls into shambles... :|), but what about the rest of the midfield? Is one CM enough to make our midfield world class again? I'm not challenging your opinions.. gimme thoughts.

 

My opinion is and will remain that Gayslur fvcked that one up. We had Essien in our sights, Fergie mentioned him often, and multiple reports said he was a fan of the club. Maybe we wouldn't have outbid Chelsea, but the fact that we didn't even try despite spending a relatively small amount on Park on van der Sar tells me exactly what is going on.

 

I think right now the weakest part of the team (assuming O'Shea isn't playing) is the central midfield. When Keane is out injured, whatever central midfield pairing/trio we use simply doesn't do the job. It is one of the key areas of the pitch because it's where possession is lost and won, where good plays for goalscoring opportunities begin, and often its where a team's dominance is asserted. Right now, whatever tactics we use are bound to have terrible weaknesses mainly because we don't have a solid central midfield to hinge on.
The wings could always do with some improvement, but I've been saying this for close to three seasons now: the central midfield is where some our main problems lie.

 

Yep. We need someone else in there because the Fletcher-Smith CM isn't cutting it. Get Ballack or Diarra, and let Fletcher, Smith, and Jones fight it out as well. Play the best, not just whichever bodies are available.

Of course we'd need the money to do so. If Gayslur doesnt fork out this summer then, well... I don't even have a response that wouldn't make people uncomfortable.

 

I think for next season at least, Diarra could help us go back to the 4-4-2:



Assuming there are no injuries, we start off with Park on the right, and Ronaldo on the left. Brown and Ferdinand would be the first choice pairing at the centreback position.



On the attack, Heinze instead of moving up on the left, tucks into the centre to support Brown and Ferdinand at the back. Neville is allowed to venture forward, and doesn't really have to worry about tracking back too quickly because Brown will be there to move out of his position and cover the right flank. Depending on the opposition, Diarra will either sit back at around 40 yards from the opponents goal, or he will venture forward to help the attack.
Scholes will move up to lurk around the box and help move the ball around between Neville and Park. Rooney drifts back a bit, and him and Ronaldo will combine on the left flank and together will try and create an opening there. Ruud will do what he does best, and will just wait for a throughball or cross to pounce on.



When defending, Parks slots into the right side of the central midfield to help Diarra and Scholes protect the midfield. Ronaldo will switch flanks, and if need be will trackback to help out...otherwise he'll just wait to initiate a counterattack. Rooney will move deeper, either onto Ronaldo's flank to wait for the counter or he will track back to tackle the opposing rightback. Ruud will stay in the region of the centre circle.

I think this way, the formation is suitable for both creating goalscoring chances as well as remaining solid at the back.

 

We need atleast two world class CM's next summer - atleast. To play 4-4-2 we need two CM's that will run there asses off for 90 minutes.

Diarra IMO is too defensive, he is the wrong person for a 4-4-2 .. we dont want to play this continental 3 man midfield ******** dowe. I assume everyone here want things to get back mid 1990's style 4-4-2 with Keane-Ince or Keane-Scholes.

Keane in his prime was not a DM, he was a CM who attacked alot but could cover the pich extremely well - I see the same in Ballack -

Ballack and Moutinho for me IMO, who are actually realistic targets, especially Moutinho who plays for our feeder club Sporting Lisbon.

Then maybe go after a new CD as Brown and Silvestre are too inconsistent and to be honest rubbish. The only top class CD that would be willing to move to us is probably Andrade, but I doubt depor would sell him.

IMO the forward line doesnt need touching, only the middle.