Andres Iniesta | Renewed contract with Barcelona

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JaffyJoe said:
I never knew we tried to sign Zidane. I always heard the story about Dalglish wanting him at Blackburn and the chairman saying we have Tim Sherwood, why do we need him? :lol:
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Fergie asked Cantona if he could play right wing. Cantona said no.. end of interest.
 
Mainoldo said:
Fergie asked Cantona if he could play right wing. Cantona said no.. end of interest.
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Wow, he is one of my favourite players ever. So elegant and graceful on the ball yet so strong. He could do it all.
 
pocco said:
Zidane was before Real wasn't it? I'm sure there's many more that we also went for, but it's definitely not what we're about in general. It's been mentioned hundreds of times by Fergie down the years that we look to make stars. Personally, I get more satisfaction from that.

Some people seem to use us signing big names as some sort of dick measuring competition, but also criticise the likes of City and Chelsea for buying these players, often labelling them 'mercenaries'.

Iniesta, for example, would always be a Barca legend. Even if he came here. It might just be me, but I'd rather bring in players that are here to make their legacy and become a big name in their own right.
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I get a lot of satisfaction from that too but I just think our inability to sign the few really top class players from top class clubs has been spun in a positive way to add to that (somewhat fluffy) message that we make our own stars. There are exceptions and Iniesta could be one of them, unlikely as it is. That's my only point.

It's not like trying to buy Zidane from Juventus would be any different from trying to buy Zidane from Madrid anyway, would it? At the time Juve were arguably the best team in Europe. Although perhaps others are right and I've got the Zidane story wrong. Regardless, both Maldini and Sir Alex have confirmed that we tried to sign him (long after he was a Milan legend) and I'm sure that's true of countless others.
 
Brwned said:
I get a lot of satisfaction from that too but I just think our inability to sign the few really top class players from top class clubs has been spun in a positive way to add to that (somewhat fluffy) message that we make our own stars. There are exceptions and Iniesta could be one of them, unlikely as it is. That's my only point.

It's not like trying to buy Zidane from Juventus would be any different from trying to buy Zidane from Madrid anyway, would it? At the time Juve were arguably the best team in Europe. Although perhaps others are right and I've got the Zidane story wrong. Regardless, both Maldini and Sir Alex have confirmed that we tried to sign him (long after he was a Milan legend) and I'm sure that's true of countless others.
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What Zidane story have you got? We never tried to sign him from Juventus.
 
Brwned said:
I get a lot of satisfaction from that too but I just think our inability to sign the few really top class players from top class clubs has been spun in a positive way to add to that (somewhat fluffy) message that we make our own stars. There are exceptions and Iniesta could be one of them, unlikely as it is. That's my only point.

It's not like trying to buy Zidane from Juventus would be any different from trying to buy Zidane from Madrid anyway, would it? At the time Juve were arguably the best team in Europe. Although perhaps others are right and I've got the Zidane story wrong. Regardless, both Maldini and Sir Alex have confirmed that we tried to sign him (long after he was a Milan legend) and I'm sure that's true of countless others.
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Yeah, I'd agree with that. I mean, we obviously want to create our own players, and that's a massive part of the club's DNA, but I have absolutely no doubts that if, down through the years, we'd been able to sign the likes of Desailly, Maldini, Batistuta, Ronaldo etc. we would have done. Even when the PL was at its most powerful, around 2008-ish, it's not like the very top players were lining up to leave Spain, for example. The very, very top players don't move all that often. They usually end up at a massive club and stay there for long periods.
 
lem8sh said:
Martin Ferguson recommended not signing him.
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Wish people would get stories right. We were in the market for a winger Zidane is not that, if Martin said don't get him its not because we didn't see his talent. We just ended up getting Proborsky instead but oh well.. Beckham can on and Scholes converted into a midfielder.
 
Mainoldo said:
Fergie asked Cantona if he could play right wing. Cantona said no.. end of interest.
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JaffyJoe said:
Wow, he is one of my favourite players ever. So elegant and graceful on the ball yet so strong. He could do it all.
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Brwned said:
I get a lot of satisfaction from that too but I just think our inability to sign the few really top class players from top class clubs has been spun in a positive way to add to that (somewhat fluffy) message that we make our own stars. There are exceptions and Iniesta could be one of them, unlikely as it is. That's my only point.

It's not like trying to buy Zidane from Juventus would be any different from trying to buy Zidane from Madrid anyway, would it? At the time Juve were arguably the best team in Europe. Although perhaps others are right and I've got the Zidane story wrong. Regardless, both Maldini and Sir Alex have confirmed that we tried to sign him (longafter he was a Milan legend) and I'm sure that's true of countless others.
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Mainoldo said:
What Zidane story have you got? We never tried to sign him from Juventus.
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Ramshock said:
Yep we were linked with him at Bordeaux
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I posted this a few times but I'll post it again. A couple of years ago I had the chance to spend the afternoon with Joel Cantona and he told me a lot of stuff about Eric and his time at United. Including the reasons he got disillusioned and decided to retire. One thing he told me was that he went to Fergie and told him he had to sign this young lad from Bordeaux called Zidane. Fergie had him scouted numerous times and they both went to Martin Edwards and said he must sign Zidane. Edwards promised he would, along with Fergie's main target Lauren Blanc. Neither player arrived. Eric was never sure who pulled the plug on the deal but in speaking to Joel, I got the impression he reserved a special disregard for Martin Edwards.
 
I'm not surprised they ignored Eric, he was really keen on being reunited with Basile Boli and Will Prunier. That went well.
 
Ramshock said:
Yep we were linked with him at Bordeaux
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At the time although talented it wasnt clear quite what type of player zz would become... more of a bagio type forward or an attacking midfielder (potentially wide but probably central)

At the time Italian football was probably the best in the world and he was more suited to it than being pushed into a wide role in the premier league
 
Where do these stories come from? So we supposedly turn down Ozil because he plays in Rooney and Kagawa's position, yet 2 months later we're after Iniesta?
 
sun_tzu said:
At the time although talented it wasnt clear quite what type of player zz would become... more of a bagio type forward or an attacking midfielder (potentially wide but probably central)

At the time Italian football was probably the best in the world and he was more suited to it than being pushed into a wide role in the premier league
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A friend of mine a Juve fan told me he struggled initially there and he was deployed as a deep midfielder. Lippi said he ill have as long as it takes for him to get it, he deployed him further forward and the rest was history.I never get tired of watching his compilations on Youtube.

Back to Iniesta let me play devil's advocate, with the way we play and the players we have would we be able to get the very best out of him?Here he would be arguably our best player so the midfield is his to run. The players we have are not on his wavelength honestly (Carrick aside) or would his resence change the way the team functions and the attack functions???
 
2 Man Midfield said:
Where do these stories come from? So we supposedly turn down Ozil because he plays in Rooney and Kagawa's position, yet 2 months later we're after Iniesta?
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To be fair, of ever a player counts as "too good to turn down", then Iniesta does. Ozil might not have been necessary because we already had Kagawa and Rooney by that doesn't mean the same reasoning applies to Iniesta. He's far better than all three of them, if signing him meant pushing Rooney or Kagawa out if position then so be it, I wouldn't even hesitate.

Again, it's a real pity this is a nonsense story, I'd kill to see Iniesta playing for us.
 
sullydnl said:
To be fair, of ever a player counts as "too good to turn down", then Iniesta does. Ozil might not have been necessary because we already had Kagawa and Rooney by that doesn't mean the same reasoning applies to Iniesta. He's far better than all three of them, if signing him meant pushing Rooney or Kagawa out if position then so be it, I wouldn't even hesitate.

Again, it's a real pity this is a nonsense story, I'd kill to see Iniesta playing for us.
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Point taken, I just can't see there being any truth to this.
 
Iniesta would be the best player that United bought. Better than Veron. Better than van Persie. Better than Berbatov.hehe
 
Absolute Fruit Cake said:
How would a Jones - Iniesta midfield be?
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We can only imagine what faces Jones will be making when he sees some of Iniesta's dribbles.

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I hope that people do realise that this deal won't happen.
 
http://www.united.no/nyhetsarkiv/iniesta-woodward-og-spillerjakt/

English bit lower down the page. Thought this was interesting:


"Ed Woodward said it frustrated him too. Woodward is sharp, you don’t get to his position at 41 if you’re not. I’ve spoken to him at length and don’t doubt that he has the best intentions for United. Nor is he the raw negotiator that some may believe as he’d been party to several transfers and knows he has to be cute and in with the right people. Not for nothing was Jorge Mendes’ daughter doing work experience at Old Trafford recently.

But he’ll become more savvy with experience and he’ll be judged again in January when the transfer window opens, though United have had more time to do groundwork than in the summer.

I also spoke to two agents about Woodward, both of whom represent top players. Neither wanted to go on the record, but they said similar.

“He’s like the perfect boss for a big city firm, where all the laws are clean, yet football’s not like that,” opined one."
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Good article that... one that those who think transfers are just about offering the right fee could do with reading a few times.
 
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