The Summer Transfer Thread

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

He won't go to United because United haven't offered the asking price. Levy had threatened to let him rot in the reserves and Levy has the money to do that. United won't have a chance of getting him unless they match City.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

You're just out to screw Kou over by not letting Man Yoo have Berba and thus let Hull have Campbell.

Hehehe ah yes the extra bonus in this situation!

[Ignition]

great so man united, the best team in europe, are gonna have the lazy Rooney, the fantastic Tevez and the inexperienced Campbell as their only striking options...oh that's brilliant. I hope man u come up with the 30mil after selling saha.

[FireDoughnut]

We didn't so much sell Saha as we gave him away...

[therockbox]

Rooney is anything but lazy.

[Dan]

Berbatov going to Man City would be excellent.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well if Ferguson doesn't think that Berbatov is worth 30 million then he won't change his mind. He historically only seems to spend what he thinks a player is worth.

[Ignition]

Well for the start of the season he's been very lazy.

And Chris that is very true. I hope man utd sign someone of great quality though, which is looking more unlikely if it's not berby

Edited September 1, 2008 by Ignition

[Lord Nibbler]

Of course we'd accept City over United. City offered the asking price, Manchester United did not.

I couldn't care less about Berbatov's morals (if he has any...) and it doesn't matter if he's in it for the money or not. He's worked himself up into a hissy funk about leaving Spurs for United and now City are the only club to offer the asking price he's kinda finding himself in a position where he has to leave.

Bwahahaha I love the fact that the sulky one will have ended up at Manchester City and that Man Utd were beaten out by their rivals for a player that they've been grooming to get upset at his club and to join theirs all summer. Heh, as close to entertaining Al Quaeda justice as possible. The 30mil will be nice.

City are also your rivals, so you're essentially selling your best player to a club who will be competing with you for the UEFA Cup spots.

[Whisper]

great so man united, the best team in europe, are gonna have the lazy Rooney, the fantastic Tevez and the inexperienced Campbell as their only striking options...oh that's brilliant. I hope man u come up with the 30mil after selling saha.

Cristiano Ronaldo says Hi.

And in response to the inevitable, "OMG He's not a striker!"...

42 goals. A good portion of which, despite what pundits claim, were scored from a more central role. The same role he also played for Portugal in the Euros. While I'd like to see us sign a striker today, I won't be too disappointed if we don't. Tevez, Ronaldo and the "lazy" (lol) Rooney were also our only strikers last season... Let's hope we don't do that badly again eh?

[Dan]

Didn't he refuse to bid for Rooney 'til Newcastle bid for him? I know it's not the exact same but it might push him to up his bid.

[Clawson]

Honestly....what the fuck happened today?

[Ignition]

I don't think that's comparable because of the difference in money we're talking about. and the fact that rooney was such a fantastic young talent....I don't know...30+million is a hell of a lot of money.

And yeah Ronaldo will score goals, but it would be amazing to have a team that doesn't rely on a one player, and on top of that, one player that will be leaving to go to Real Madrid this summer. So yeah we do need a striker because Rooney won't get us many goals Tevez will chip in, but we need an out and out goal scorer.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Ignition

[Whisper]

Of course, Fergie may have already made a bid for Berbatov today... He (and the club as a whole) are never particularly open about transfer targets. He may also have decided, "Fuck Berbatov" and may have his eye on someone else. Then again, he may have just decided to keep the squad as it is. Point being, no one really knows what's going on behind the scenes.

Either way, United fans will complain. I'll prefer to trust the decisions of the most succesful British manager of all time. He doesn't have the worst record in the transfer market now does he?

[King Ellis]

Man Yoo is an odd one because you look at them and they do lack a proper striker. I mean, Rooney and Tevez seem to spend so much time dropping back they're pratically in midfield but they won the Champions League and the Prem so they can obviously survive without one.

[FireDoughnut]

I'd like to see Campbell get his chance away from Old Trafford but ideally that would be on loan so we can bring him back if he has a good season at Hull.

As for Rooney; he has been told by Sir Alex to more selfish this season as last year he was tracking back for 70 minutes and then dying on his feet when we needed his creative spark. It was in an interview a few weeks ago that SAF thinks Rooney does too much work to be considered a striker... And has told him to be selfish, and therefore lazy.

[Whisper]

I don't think that's comparable because of the difference in money we're talking about. and the fact that rooney was such a fantastic young talent....I don't know...30+million is a hell of a lot of money.

And yeah Ronaldo will score goals, but it would be amazing to have a team that doesn't rely on a one player, and on top of that, one player that will be leaving to go to Real Madrid this summer. So yeah we do need a striker because Rooney won't get us many goals Tevez will chip in, but we need an out and out goal scorer.

Last season's top goalscorers

Ronaldo - 31

Torres & Adebayor - 24

Santa Cruz - 19

Benjani, Berbatov, Keane, Yakubu - 15

Tevez - 14

Carew -13

Rooney (et al.) - 12

Colour me crazy, but 3 of the top 11 goalscorers in the Premiership last season were United players. How can we NEED an out and out goalscorer when Ronaldo scored 42 times last season? Regardless of whether he is leaving next summer or not, he IS an out and out goal scorer. Headers, Right foot, left foot, tap ins. wonder goals... he scores them all. I'm not buying that a front 3 of Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo (With the likes of Campbell, Giggs, Nani, Park as backup) NEEDS anything. Would it be nice to have a centre forward? Yes, of course... but it's not the end of the world if we get no one.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Whisper in the Wind

[IAceI]

I think the times of traditional set formations and out and out strikers and central midfielders is becoming a dying breed. Manchester United pretty much last year brought out an almost rotational policy where Tevez, Ronaldo and Rooney were all chopping and changing and ending up on different wings. I know Chelsea began to adopt a more 4-3-3 formation with the front three being Drogba then players like Kalou and Cole dropping off him.

We're beginning to see teams move away from the 2 strikers and instead having one striker and a player or two, or even three, playing off them and then 2 holding midfielders. And even though we're beginning to get more aggressive and attacking full backs, the defence and obviously goalkeeper are areas where things don't seem to change whereas you can't really describe midfielders and strikers in the same sense you could years ago.

It used to be right and left wings, central midfielders and then strikers. Now you get attacking and defensive or holding midfielders, and these are beginning to evolve, the AM is now a playmaker or "playing off" the striker more than just sitting between the strikers and midfield. I think it's just a case of formations beginning to evolve and less and less teams, at least in the top leagues, are playing this 4-4-2 formation we were so accustomed too and instead are having players in different roles, be it further up the field with less defensive instructions - or further back the field just anchoring themselves between the midfield and defence.

That's how I'm seeing it at least, maybe I'm deluded though.

[Ignition]

Want a list?

- He's coming back from injury and won't be straight back to the top of his game for a while.

- The team shouldn't have to rely on one player who may not even live up to what he achieved last year.

- Ronaldo's most likely leaving next year, so it'd be nice to find a top striker who can come in and fit in to united for a year and get used to the way we play.

- Even though Ronaldo scores lots of goals we lack the poacher aka Ruud role and even though we won the league and champ leauge last summer we still lacked pentration at certain times.

- Surely you want to improve on your squad? And with Chelsea and liverpool both significantly improving theirs, obviously united should be looking at doing the same.

And yeah I agree with you IaceI. Especially with the better teams, however with the lower teams in the premiership, or more tactical teams, the formations are still very important to the way they play. Look at Portsmouth for example with a distinct 442 formation when they play...so it is still important, but defiantely less important as it used to be.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Ignition

[IAceI]

Just so you know WitW - I'll take Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney with those goals.

You have the Chopra if you want.

Maybe.