Is 'briefs' better?
We have too few verified facts at our disposal to reach any firm conclusions as to what the real agenda was.
My take, which is as useless as anyone else's speculation, is that we were never serious about bringing in Fabregas. My support for that conclusion is that a bid of 25m was far too low of a bid to be of any interest to Barcelona. And even if the idea were to start low and work your way up, it was too low of a bid to be taken seriously. And when we raised that bid to a still absurdly low 30m, it should have been clear this was never going to happen.
Then why? You got me there. The grassy knoll conspiracy theorist in my suspect it was merely an effort by United management to set the table for settling on Fellaini. That may an unwarranted leap, but that's my leap. And take careful note that I do not suggest this necessarily makes any sense.
What makes more sense to me is putting in a serious bid for Modric, who seems more surplus to requirements to Real than Fabregas does to Barcelona. I have no idea whether Real would sell Modric at any price, but an opening bid of 40m would have been difficult to toss in the trash can.
But it could well be that Moyes as surveys the battlefield he sees the following: no way in Hades does he sell Rooney and that what he needs more than a midfielder in the mold of Fabregas and Modric is a midfielder in the mold of Fellaini. Rather than a silky passer in the last third (Fabregas and Modric) he needs a defensive midfielder who's good for the oddball goal off the cross.
Moyes knows a bit more about football than I do, so if that's his judgment then I will defer to him, sit back in my barcalounger and witness the unfolding of events as the gods proclaim.
Is 'briefs' better?
No Ronaldo, No Bale, No Thiago, No Baines, No Fellaini and now no Fabregas. I wonder if Charlie Adam is for sale.
It's still in the list of things that make me want to vomit, but marginally, yeah.
[/quote]We cant just go around putting in 40m bids for everyone. This isnt FM. There is absolutely no problem for Modric at Real. He doesnt have too much competition in his position.
It's a fair point of disagreement, but my response is that we have zero chance of landing the quality of midfielder we all want to see come to OT when opening bids are made at 25m. Events have borne that out, have they not?
You are wrong here as well. We need both a creative/playmaker and a defensive mid. Not just one.
What we want and what we need are two different things. We really do need a creative/playmaker midfielder whereas we only a want a defensive midfield. Put it this way: if we brought in both a creative mid and a defensive mid the former would be an automatic starter (assuming top class such as Fabregas or Modric) whereas the latter (assume Fellaini or Capoue) would likely be cover for Carrick -- unless you're suggesting we need to bring in a defensive midfielder who would relegate Carrick to the bench as well a creative mid who would relegate Cleverley to the bench. I can't see that happening. Yes, bring in a defensive mid but that defensive mid would be brought on periodically as cover for Carrick or in game situations where Carrick could use a partner in front of the back four.
Perhaps I can put it a way we might agree: we need an attacking mid more than we need a defensive mid, although we could absolutely use both. Does this work for you?
A bit more? A bit? Really? Do you have a license of any sort other than driving?
Obviously, my sarcasm didn't come across very well. To leave no room for doubt as to my qualifications to pass judgment on David Moyes, he has forgotten more about football than all of us tards on the caf will ever know.
Munks, for me.No way is 'briefs' better than 'underpants'. Jocks is my preferred nomenclature anyway.
It could be worse,
You could be scouse...
Jesus H. Christ.
You keep saying the same thing. When we bid a starting amount we know its not going to be accepted. But we are trying to gauge how much higher they want. Lets say our 35m for Cesc was accepted. If we started at 40m, would that be a bigger loss for us? They might have rejected our 40m first bid due to the fact that we would be willing to pay more than 40m which means he will cost us even more.It's a fair point of disagreement, but my response is that we have zero chance of landing the quality of midfielder we all want to see come to OT when opening bids are made at 25m. Events have borne that out, have they not?
What are the feck are you talking about again? We NEED both a creative midfielder and a defensive mid. The latter is obviously going to be backup for Carrick. But Carrick cant go on forever, so we need a replacement soon.What we want and what we need are two different things. We really do need a creative/playmaker midfielder whereas we only a want a defensive midfield.
You keep saying the same thing. When we bid a starting amount we know its not going to be accepted. But we are trying to gauge how much higher they want. Lets say our 35m for Cesc was accepted. If we started at 40m, would that be a bigger loss for us? They might have rejected our 40m first bid due to the fact that we would be willing to pay more than 40m which means he will cost us even more.
I lost interest in this thread hours ago. Is there any reason why it's still rumbling on?
I can totally see how this could be the case.For what it's worth, Graham Hunter says it was his agent who began pushing this deal. He reckoned it was a sort of window shopping, where Fabregas let us know he'd be willing to move if we got Barcelona to agree to it. Then he waited to see what Barca would do. If they accepted the United bid then he'd be happy to come here as he's be a key player for a big team and earn more money. If they refused the bids then he hadn't lost anything and would be reassured of his position in the team. Either way Cesc couldn't lose.
I can totally see how this could be the case.
But I still can't see why we ever thought £25-30m would do the trick. Barcelona bought him for £27m from Arsenal and have to split the profit on any sale with them. If we wanted Barcelona to consider the bid (in the hope that if they agree it Cesc will come here) it had to be attractive and lucrative for them. None of those bids are even close, given that there's barely any profit in there at all for them and they already lost a CM this window.
No way is 'briefs' better than 'underpants'. Jocks is my preferred nomenclature anyway.
So where are we now in the Transfer League table? We must be hovering over the relegation zone at this stage. Moyes better get his fecking act together quick
I guess we figured Barcelona (while not keen on selling) would eventually accept a bid as they have spent a lot on Neymar and need to buy a centre back. So we decided to offer low and gradually increase it until it got to the point that they couldn't refuse. We were basically trying to get the best deal possible, confident that they would eventually have to sell.
It's not unusual to make a low bid to start off with. Chelsea did it with Rooney and Arsenal did it with Suarez. Neither of those bids were ever going to be accepted, it's just a starting point. I think we were prepared for a drawn out negotiation from the beginning.
I love the quality of some of the responses here.
Perhaps it would be best if I proclaimed how "embarrassed" we should all be, or how we're a shit club because City and Chelsea have spent gazillions and we haven't or how Moyes and Edward Woodward are morons. Or just a primal "feck sake".
Better?
Who's talking underpants? You're speaking my language
Don't know if it's better, but it certainly isn't worse.I love the quality of some of the responses here.
Perhaps it would be best if I proclaimed how "embarrassed" we should all be, or how we're a shit club because City and Chelsea have spent gazillions and we haven't or how Moyes and Edward Woodward are morons. Or just a primal "feck sake".
Better?
Must be catching. I mentioned them in the Ronaldo thread earlier.
I love the quality of some of the responses here.
Perhaps it would be best if I proclaimed how "embarrassed" we should all be, or how we're a shit club because City and Chelsea have spent gazillions and we haven't or how Moyes and Edward Woodward are morons. Or just a primal "feck sake".
Better?
At least it'd be a less long winded and much less pretentious way of unveiling your ignorance.
I think he uses pretentiousness to disguise the fact he is completely out of his depth on matters of football let alone United.
He has a superb way of taking ages to say feck all, I'll hand him that. He's not alone in that posting style, but he is one of the 'best'.
Personally I find it a bit too contrived. Still, he obviously puts a lot of effort into it.
I can totally see how this could be the case.
But I still can't see why we ever thought £25-30m would do the trick. Barcelona bought him for £27m from Arsenal and have to split the profit on any sale with them. If we wanted Barcelona to consider the bid (in the hope that if they agree it Cesc will come here) it had to be attractive and lucrative for them. None of those bids are even close, given that there's barely any profit in there at all for them and they already lost a CM this window.
Yeah, I'm not sure you fully got my use of superb and best.
?I was going to quote your unedited post. It was much better. Why didn't you leave it alone?
I dont think we would of got him, Barca would not of accepted unless it was the silly money being touted for Bale.
Who?
If 40m would've been enough, Barca would've told us and we would've paid it.
Wait.... he's staying at Barca?
Well, I never saw that coming.
this was just a farce to keep the supporters happy.
Nonsense... only the most essential key players in any team go for more than £40-50m (In fact, nobody does other than Ronaldo so far). There's no way Barca would have turned down a bid over £40m.
Apparently we were in for Cesc Fabregas of Barcelona