There's more people complaining about the complainers than there are actual complainers ffs! So let me be the first to complain about the complainers complaining about all the complaining.
So the fact he's missed 50 games through injury in the last 2 seasons, is 31, and is coming to a new, more physical league should just be ignored?
He may turn out to be a fabulous signing, who plays lots and helps us win trophies. I hope he does, and I wouldn't be surprised.
But there is that element of doubt for some people, and rightfully so.
In fact, I think the blind optimism - 'He's Bastian Schweinsteiger, how dare you voice doubts!?' - is more perplexing than the doubts themselves.
It's like bloody RAWK: nobody ever posts a criticism of the manager, yet every post decries the selfie-stick Sly Sports Judas Manc Junta for posting criticism of the manager.
This is my take on it as well - the caf was once an enlightened bastian (geddit?) of discussion. Nowadays it is getting harder and harder to actually have a minority opinion, much less expect any reasoned debate (Note to the people I have been conversing with/quoting that this not so much aimed at you but all the complainers about complainers, as Senor put it).
I had really hoped that one or two people would have at the very least learned their lessons from last summer, but the blind optimism is back in full swing. I am used to having an unpopular opinion fortunately, having spent much of last season defending Fellaini in that thread
It's easy for you to say that those players weren't given a chance without any basis. Knowing nothing I'd rather trust Sir Alex Ferguson and what he saw in training over this one. If Fabio was indeed that good he would have gone and proven Sir Alex wrong like Pogba did. He didn't, and instead only confirmed what the club already knew themselves.
You can spin this anyway you want, players don't become great just by plying. If anything, Cleverley and Welbeck have proven you to be spectacularly wrong by their time at Villa and Arsenal. Interesting how you're ignoring the facts and what happened the last season. Fits the view I guess.
I agree that there are risks involved but the benefits far outweigh them. Especially when it's such a small fee. It's really not that important IMO. We'll probably sigh schneiderlin as well.
But realistically, we all know that SAF had a huge amount of loyalty to some of his older players. Evra is one such example, as he was frankly a liability at times in his final season(s) (much of this came after Fabio's spell at the club) - great going forward but no so much when it came to defending (this doesnt mean he wasnt a great player for us in his day). Evra always played when fit, there was no rotation - I think it is a fair assumption to say that SAF or no SAF, it would have been prudent to have rested Evra from time to time to try to develop the prospect that we probably bought with a view to taking over the LB position from Evra.
After all, if we didnt think Fabio had the potential to take over from Evra, why did we buy him?
My point has never been that "players become great just by playing" - it has been that there is a chicken-and-egg situation with regard to playing someone, and seeing if they are good enough. My view is that you have to play someone to see if they are good enough (assuming within reason, that they are not a clear cut case one way or another), and I have listed several examples of times recently that we have failed to do that. It is interesting that you list Welbeck as a spectacular failure when few could argue that he would have done a better job for us last season than RVP or Falcao, given the gametime they had. It was that preference to buy in and favour players in their peak (supposedly) over developing a younger player who had (and still has) a lot of potential that is symptomatic of the issues I am describing. Even if you dont rate Welbeck, he is good enough for a place in our squad and always has been.
Its odd that you also use Cleverley's time at Villa to support your argument when in fact he has been one of their best players. Does that mean that he was automatically good enough for United? Of course not, but similarly saying that 'his time at Villa has proven me wrong' is clearly ridiculous, since he did not actually do badly at Villa at all, and has now secured a move to Everton - again, this very much proves that he could have continued as a squad player for us if nothing else.
