Ferdinand replacement - rumoured

Doubt it'll be Shawcross, Fergie obviously didn't believe he was destined to be top class when he sold him so I doubt he'll want him back.

Phil Jones is my pick if we're going for Premier League proven centre backs, has all the qualities to be great. Good on the ball and can also play holding midfielder if we need someone.
 
surely its smalling or someone in their late twenties early thirties to allow smalling to gain experience? whats that bloke at everton called?
 
friendlytramp said:
surely its smalling or someone in their late twenties early thirties to allow smalling to gain experience? whats that bloke at everton called?
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The one who just today signed a new 4 year contract?

Some shit suggestions in this thread. We should be looking at a player in their late 20s with European experience but who would be willing to play intermittently. Not easy really.

We should not be looking at bloody Distin. The Religion is right, he's a hoofer, has no pace and is seriously past his best, which wasn't anything to begin with anyway - he's 33 and a complete liability.

Rodwell has never played a single Premier League match as a central defender to the best of my knowledge. People have been going on about him being a natural in that position or being versitile but I've only ever seen him play in the centre of the park or pushed out of position on the wings (where he's been crap, but Moyes loves to play his squad all over the place for some reason). He's not the player we'd be looking at for replacing Rio. If we were looking at youth, we've already got Smalling who even now is vastly more experienced in that role than Rodwell.
 
MrMarcello said:
Rather sign a player with years left versus a stop-gap. Would also provide additional quality to compete with Evans and Smalling.

Cahill
Subotic
Hageland
Chiellini (also provides cover at LB)
Shawcross

All good choices in here.
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Hangeland is not that young though is he? I would be happy taking Cahill on as backup and Vidic's understudy. Him and Smalling could make a good partnership.
 
Minkaro said:
.... Are there any experienced centre-backs who's contracts are ending in the summer? ...
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Gallas.

He was only offered an initial 1 year contract at Spurs last summer, although Harry is keen to repeat the offer this time around.
 
Bring Tweety Back
Silvestre_468x538.jpg

or yagiyelka...
or we could not sign anyone and be fine
 
If there is one area we don't need to bring in more players its at CB despite Rio's injury. Give Smalling the job full-time and let him learn on the job if Rio is out long term, he's deserved it for his efforts so far.
 
How about Ricardo Carvalho? I dunno if he'd come back to England (and join a rival of Chelsea) or Madrid would sell, but on the (very little) I've seen of him this season he looks like he still has some gas in the tank. Other options could be Milito, Mexes, or Mertesacker (borderline too young/expensive).
 
I don't think we'll buy a CB in the next transfer window, seeing as there are more important issues to deal with (the goalkeeper situation + midfield woes). Both Smalling and Evans perform well when called upon. I reckon it would only be when Ferdinand was confirmed as unable to play again that Fergie would consider buying another CB. For now we're not bad as we are, certainly better than in midfield department.
 
Aint gota Kalou said:
Doubt it'll be Shawcross, Fergie obviously didn't believe he was destined to be top class when he sold him so I doubt he'll want him back.

Phil Jones is my pick if we're going for Premier League proven centre backs, has all the qualities to be great. Good on the ball and can also play holding midfielder if we need someone.
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:lol:

That has to be a wum? How is he more proven than Shawcross? :lol:
 
Phil Jones is just a clogger. He's the new Robert Huth, just at Blackburn. He gets widely applauded because he's big and he doesn't mind a challenge, but he's going to be bang average when he's more experienced. Horrible player.
 
towcester_red said:
:lol:

That has to be a wum? How is he more proven than Shawcross? :lol:
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When did I say he was more proven? All I'm saying is that if Shawcross was believed to be good enough he wouldn't of left originally. It's very rare that Fergie ever gets it wrong and sells a youngster who goes on to be good enough for United.

Rossi and Pique are the only two that stand out recently, and the only reason they left was not due to lack of talent but because of wanting first team football quicker or wanting to return to their home club.

Phil Jones is just a clogger. He's the new Robert Huth, just at Blackburn. He gets widely applauded because he's big and he doesn't mind a challenge, but he's going to be bang average when he's more experienced. Horrible player.
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How is Jones just a "clogger"? As you mentioned he's pretty physical but that doesn't mean he's not very good at football. He's played in midfield quite a bit which indicates he's quite composed on the ball and he's also pretty mobile.

Wouldn't mind him here at all if we wanted another young centre back like others are suggesting, would probably want a more short-term option if we were going to replace Ferdinand though, since unlike many I actually rate Evans pretty highly. (I didn't make this clear originally)
 
alastair said:
Phil Jones is just a clogger. He's the new Robert Huth, just at Blackburn. He gets widely applauded because he's big and he doesn't mind a challenge, but he's going to be bang average when he's more experienced. Horrible player.
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Yeah. Often see Robert Huth deployed in central midfield.

Good young player. Was outstanding last season for Blackburn despite being so young.

Not all centre backs are ball players. Iin fact, very very few have both the neccessary physical strength and ball playing skills - hence why Arsenal keep buying the likes of Koscielny and Vermaelen and trying to find a player with both sides to his game.

Defenders need to defend first and formost - anything else is a bonus. Especially for United where we should hardly be short on attacking options elsewhere on the pitch.
 
Aint gota Kalou said:
When did I say he was more proven? All I'm saying is that if Shawcross was believed to be good enough he wouldn't of left originally. It's very rare that Fergie ever gets it wrong and sells a youngster who goes on to be good enough for United.

Rossi and Pique are the only two that stand out recently, and the only reason they left was not due to lack of talent but because of wanting first team football quicker or wanting to return to their home club.
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You did say

Phil Jones is my pick if we're going for Premier League proven centre backs
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He may turn out to be a good player, but at the moment Shawcross is a much better player.

Apparently we have a buy back clause on him too, which makes you think Fergie wasnt completely writing him off.
 
alastair said:
Phil Jones is just a clogger. He's the new Robert Huth, just at Blackburn. He gets widely applauded because he's big and he doesn't mind a challenge, but he's going to be bang average when he's more experienced. Horrible player.
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That's a ridiculous and a very harsh summary of Phil Jones. I will be very surprised if he doesn't become an England regular in future.
 
KM said:
That's a ridiculous and a very harsh summary of Phil Jones. I will be very surprised if he doesn't become an England regular in future.[/QUOTE]

lol like that would discount England playing a clogger!!
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towcester_red said:
You did say



He may turn out to be a good player, but at the moment Shawcross is a much better player.

Apparently we have a buy back clause on him too, which makes you think Fergie wasnt completely writing him off.
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Yeah I should've added young in there to be honest, my fault on that.

I just think signing Shawcross back would be a bit pointless, Evans was obviously seen as the much superior prospect (and rightly so) and he's not particularly versatile either. He would just be a back-up, but not even one that is that useful.

Jones has shown signs of developing into a top class player and whilst he isn't as proven as Shawcross yet I do think he's a bigger talent. Being able to play as a holding midfielder also gives us another option in the bigger games as only really Carrick is able to do that job with any sort of stability.
 
Aint gota Kalou said:
Yeah I should've added young in there to be honest, my fault on that.

I just think signing Shawcross back would be a bit pointless, Evans was obviously seen as the much superior prospect (and rightly so) and he's not particularly versatile either. He would just be a back-up, but not even one that is that useful.

Jones has shown signs of developing into a top class player and whilst he isn't as proven as Shawcross yet I do think he's a bigger talent. Being able to play as a holding midfielder also gives us another option in the bigger games as only really Carrick is able to do that job with any sort of stability.
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Fair enough and you may be proven to be correct.

But leaving Utd has done wonders for Shawcross whereas, certainly this season, Evans has stalled in his development.
 
The Black Pearl said:
Its rumored on another forum that its Gary Cahill & its apparently a done deal, supposed to be arriving in the summer.
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Good English defender, but realistically can't see us getting anyone as we already have Evans, Smalling and Brown in reserve.
 
We don't need anyone. Evans and Smalling are two of the finest young CB's in European football. They already have the established talents of Vidic and Ferdinand to compete with without adding someone else who could potentially deny them the game time they need to mature and fulfill their potential.

I'd be amazed if SAF knee-jerked millions into the air on a position we have great depth and quality in. Yes. we do seem to have the whole set of defenders collapse at the same time each season but you can't legislate for it and justify spending £10m+ to cover something is almost freakish and which surely cannot keep happening.

To get another quality defender in his prime would cost £10m+, that's too much for what would be an unneccesary purchase. The other option would be to get a waxwork past his best ala Blanc, that'd serve no obvious purpose either other than sending out the wrong message to Smalling and Evans.
 
Nate Dogg said:
Good English defender, but realistically can't see us getting anyone as we already have Evans, Smalling and Brown in reserve.
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I could see Brown wanting to move on now, he's a bit down the pecking order both in the center and on the right. 31 years old so he'll probably want regular action now.
 
I like Gary Cahill but Rio's not done yet surely?

Didnt SAF rubbish that talk a couple of days ago?
 
cina said:
I could see Brown wanting to move on now, he's a bit down the pecking order both in the center and on the right. 31 years old so he'll probably want regular action now.
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I think if he wanted to leave, he would have done so before 31.

Having said that, he may be forced out in the summer.
 
WireRed said:
We don't need anyone. Evans and Smalling are two of the finest young CB's in European football. They already have the established talents of Vidic and Ferdinand to compete with without adding someone else who could potentially deny them the game time they need to mature and fulfill their potential.

I'd be amazed if SAF knee-jerked millions into the air on a position we have great depth and quality in. Yes. we do seem to have the whole set of defenders collapse at the same time each season but you can't legislate for it and justify spending £10m+ to cover something is almost freakish and which surely cannot keep happening.

To get another quality defender in his prime would cost £10m+, that's too much for what would be an unneccesary purchase. The other option would be to get a waxwork past his best ala Blanc, that'd serve no obvious purpose either other than sending out the wrong message to Smalling and Evans.
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You're saying that Evans and Smalling haven't both gotten a lot of play time? You want to play with fewer options than before and give those two a bigger role right away?

Sorry but no. Smalling is still very inexperienced and you see a nervy mistake from him every game. It just hasn't cost us much yet, except for the soft penalty.
Evans has been an under average performer this season and that's basing it on a player like him, not Rio or Vidic quality. He's been a liability this season. So the progress I thought he made last season might be a one off deal and not a permanent thing. You just don't know. And with a CB and a GK I don't want to take that chance. If you do you have an Arsenal on your hand.

Smalling shouldn't panic. He's only 21. Evans is only 23 and has got 44 league games with us and 18 with Sunderland. It's uneasy that he's got 130 games under the belt, 18 of them in Europe, with Smalling outperforming him and being so less experienced. You'd think that a player 2 years your junior would be the needed kick up the butt and I hope he proves that the next season.

But unless Rio is guaranteed to be fit next season we should ponder a CB buy. Not to rival Evans and Smalling but to rival Rio for his position.

Most of all I hope that Rio will do a Nesta and get rid of his problems.
 
The Black Pearl said:
Its rumored on another forum that its Gary Cahill & its apparently a done deal, supposed to be arriving in the summer.
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Big fan of Cahill but would rather persevere with what we have here.
 
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