Exactly.
Gareth Bale
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And get Ronaldo back while we're at it.
Easy Raoul but that would be nice lol
I really want him, but our need for top quality lay in other areas of the pitch sadly.
We have Depay and LVG likes inverted wingers. Bale has been pissed that he's been playing from the right this season and that would be where LVG would play him himself.
Unless we buy him and attempt to mould him into a 10 or a striker, which may possibly work. But would we really be spunking that much on yet another project, the returns of which would be debatable in any case?
I wouldn't want us to pay over 40m for him though. That should have been his going rate the season he left and if we spent more than that we would be fools and even more so if we sacrifice a superior player like ADM in the process.
Unless we buy him and attempt to mould him into a 10 or a striker, which may possibly work. But would we really be spunking that much on yet another project, the returns of which would be debatable in any case?
I wouldn't want us to pay over 40m for him though. That should have been his going rate the season he left and if we spent more than that we would be fools and even more so if we sacrifice a superior player like ADM in the process.
I think his frustration is more to do with being a support act for Ronaldo and consequently the whole performance of the team is channeled into maximising his effectiveness rather than Bale's own.
I don't think Bale is suited to the right, doesn't quite have that pure technique that certain wingers have that enable them to play the inverted role. I mean sure he can do a job there, but he's just not as effective. He's much better centrally or on the left. He was great for Spurs when they shifted him to the middle in his final season there.
He won't be getting that at Utd either. Rightly or wrongly, Rooney is the main man of this team and I suspect Bale coming in won't do much to change that.
I'm not necessarily on the Bale bandwagon, but if we do bring him in he'll become our "main man".
Roo is a key player for us but he's no longer our main man and hasn't been for a few seasons. Carrick has been, but Carrick's remaining days are few. Roo needs a scoring forward/winger he can feed and free up space for Roo himself.
My only hesitation with Bale is the fee Real will demand. We have a lot needs.
My hope is that they will be worried about not getting as much from him next summer as they will now.
He will still have 3 years remaining of his contract in 2016, but the way he's playing his stock isn't really rising, and age will also play into it.
Unless he turns things around, I doubt they will be able to get 40m for him in 2016 - a sum I'm confident we'd be willing to pay for him this summer.
As for where he'll fit in... I'll skip that discussion. I've wanted him at United since his early Spurs days, so I don't really care
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My hope is that they will be worried about not getting as much from him next summer as they will now.
He will still have 3 years remaining of his contract in 2016, but the way he's playing his stock isn't really rising, and age will also play into it.
Unless he turns things around, I doubt they will be able to get 40m for him in 2016 - a sum I'm confident we'd be willing to pay for him.
As for where he'll fit in... I'll skip that discussion. I've wanted him at United since his early Spurs days, so I don't really care
All good points. The logic of the move to United is obvious, but I can from Gareth's own perspective that it would be a humiliation. My answer to him, should he ever ask, is that United are on the way up and Real on the way down. You're persona non grata there and would become a legend here!
Slightly off topic from the transfer talk but i was just thinking how it doesn't even seem that long ago when Bale was a poor left back that Spurs were weary about playing because of that spell where they would lose every time they played Bale.
I wonder what it was about Bale that he could go from a failed left back into the most expensive player in the world and a total goal scoring 'wrecking ball' within a handful of years.
Its crazy when you think about it.
I wonder what it was about Bale that he could go from a failed left back into the most expensive player in the world and a total goal scoring 'wrecking ball' within a handful of years.
Its crazy when you think about it.
Because we don't play even close to what we would need for him to have a proper impact and even then he wouldn't be worth the money. LVG wants to change di Maria, who is similar player to Bale (likes to run at players, but needs space in front of him, likes to shoot, likes his freedom....), so why wouldn't he want to change Bale. Under SAF Bale would be a great addition (not 80mil worth, but still), but not under LVG.
Bale is nowhere near as erratic as di María and that's his main problem. There's no reason whatsoever that van Gaal couldn't use Bale in the same way he used Robben.
Actually there is a reason. Bale isn't able to dribble past people, like Robben, not even close. Also, he used Robben that way only because he had to play a certain formation, he has no plans to do that with United as that would not bring u somewhere because most teams can defend against that, so 25 or so draws a season wouldn't really help.
What formation are you talking about?
Bale can't take on players? What nonsense. He doesn't weave like Messi or Robben but I've never seen him struggle to breeze past defenders.
To compare him to DiMaria was just silly too. Has Di Maria ever scored over 10 league goals in a season? Lvg said it again today. We lack killer instinct.. I'm sure he see's Bale or Kane(if rumours are true) as the type of players he needs for next season.
Spurs saw his talent considering they paid 7m for him. He was only 18 at the time, so it's not that strange that he was very inconsistent. I don't think the people at Spurs saw him as such a failure. After all, they kept playing him now and then, and obviously tried to fit him into a more attacking role in training before letting him play that role in a real game. The talk about him being a jinx was mostly the media, I'm sure.
A great talent that a long run of underwhelming form before finding his place!
I cant understand why fans want him. We've just signed Depay as left winger whose scoring goals for fun on the flank. We've also got Young and Di Maria who can cover the role.
Haven't we learnt the lesson that players should be playing in their natural position yet?
Haven't we learnt the lesson that players should be playing in their natural position yet?
He would play on the right for us. He would be competing for Mata's place.
If we do sign him he will either play behind the main striker or on the right. Unless he is given a free role.
Neither Depay nor Bale had made a name playing as right winger. What's the point in spending 80-100m on players whom we play out of position?
He doesn't need to dribble past players - because he has the pace and power to go past them anyway.
Signing Bale would be great for us. Will score shitloads of goals and give us a new dimension.
Until they figure him out and close the space. Eventually teams adapt to these speed demons and if there was a choice between pace/power and dribbling I'd choose dribbling all the time. The best thing is to have the two of them in great balance of course. Besides if we play the same possession style based football, having outrageous pace isn't gonna help that much.
Van Gaal likes 'inverted wingers' i.e. left footers on the right and right footers on the left. Depay is right footed and Bale left. Primarily you would have Depay and Young contesting for the left and Mata, Di Maria and Bale contesting for the right wing. But yes, it is overkill.
A front three of Depay>Bale>Di Maria would be
Once again, what's the point of spending 80-100m (Depay and Bale) to just play them out of position? Mind you, we've seen cases were players had changed roles and such change extended a player's career or even made them world class players (Pirlo, Scholes, Evra, Rijkaard etc) However these changes were due to necessity. For example Scholes could either adapt in midfield or else end up on the bench for a couple of years until he gained the necessary experience to play upfront. Ancelotti's brilliance in moving Pirlo (an average forward back then) to the deep lying playmaker role saved his career. Rijkaard move to CB added mileage to his career. These were talented players, who were already at the club and whose move extended, improved or even saved their career.
You don't spend 100m on players to play that game. If you have 100m and you need a right winger than common sense would say you buy one.
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@devilish
Depay plays on the left wing all the time?
It isn't a stretch by any means to play any winger on the opposite side. I feel you are being a little dramatic.
Depay plays on the left wing all the time?
It isn't a stretch by any means to play any winger on the opposite side. I feel you are being a little dramatic.
It can be important at times. I dont think Young would have played the way he has of late playing on the right hand side, for example.
I said this last year, we need a strong spine to the team which is a CB and a CM, we've spent all this money and I can't believe we haven't sorted it out.
So roll on this season and again we buy Depay(which is brilliant) and are strongly linked to Bale and Kane again attackers, we need to sort out the CB and CM as a top priority before anything else.
So roll on this season and again we buy Depay(which is brilliant) and are strongly linked to Bale and Kane again attackers, we need to sort out the CB and CM as a top priority before anything else.
Having goals and no spin has done us okay for the previous 5 years except last season. I don't see the problem on focusing on goals again. Considering yet again we've had a season of poor returns from our attackers.
I think 1 of the reasons why is because LVG don't trust the defence, before the Leicester game we looked very attack minded and Di Maria was enjoying himself running rings around the opponents. After that game we is when things changed and all of a sudden our attacking players had more responsibility to help defend!
But I do agree we need attacking players to but I think it should be top priority to sort out a CB and a CM/CDM.
Right with you. Before all we should prioritize the defense with a Goalkeeper now, a right back, a central defender, and maybe another number 6 like Carrick protecting the back four.
But in all that, I really think that we need Bale in our team. We have a player like Di Maria not used as much as we want, but in Bale you can have a player who can decide a game with a run or a shot. The team will be balanced enough to make him shine again.
Apart from young, we have no player beating an opponent, not the full back, not Mata and even not our striker. We really need to upgrade our team, and unless Depay becomes an absolute monster like Hazard did when he arrived at Chelsea, we really need Bale IMO
We’ll stick with Rooney upfront, and we all know that Rooney can’t lead us to the title alone, but playing with a fast winger, another threat, and maybe a good surprise in Depay or Di Maria should make us progress
But it’s interesting to see if Di Maria will be another time, be offload to make place for Bale
But in all that, I really think that we need Bale in our team. We have a player like Di Maria not used as much as we want, but in Bale you can have a player who can decide a game with a run or a shot. The team will be balanced enough to make him shine again.
Apart from young, we have no player beating an opponent, not the full back, not Mata and even not our striker. We really need to upgrade our team, and unless Depay becomes an absolute monster like Hazard did when he arrived at Chelsea, we really need Bale IMO
We’ll stick with Rooney upfront, and we all know that Rooney can’t lead us to the title alone, but playing with a fast winger, another threat, and maybe a good surprise in Depay or Di Maria should make us progress
But it’s interesting to see if Di Maria will be another time, be offload to make place for Bale
They couldn't figure him out last time he was in the PL. I remeber when he beat West Ham on huis own and Allardyce put it well - you tell players to close him down he goes past them. They gave him space instead and he was teeing off with shots all over the place, scoring twice. Its fine having a plan to deal with a player, but actually putting it into action is easier said than done. That's what seperates the best players from the average ones and pacy, strong and direct players are always difficult to deal with.
I couldnt disagree more about how it affects the system. Our "possesion football" is fine and lest us cotrol the game but as it stands its all one paced. Teams can just sit back and rely on us unpicking them. I've said it before - we need to be able to change the pace of the attack to make us less predictable - by speed of passing and by having pace to get in behind. Being able to hit teams on the break and stretch the play will take us to another level.
If you think they're not addressing these issues at the expense of pursuing other attacking players then you're mad.
I suspect we'll sign a full back, a centreback and a midfielder. In fact, I'm almost certain we will. Doesnt mean the club won't be targetting other players as well.
If anything sign bale as a striker
I'm not overly keen on monkey boy but a front 3 of Bale, Rooney and DePay has to be more prolific than our attack this season.
Left sided forward/winger is his natural role. Gaz used to be able to play as CB. However you don't buy Gaz to play him as CB wouldn't you?
Throughout the years we've utilized a system were we first buy players and then think of how to play them later. Smalling was used as RB, Jones in midfield, Ando and Fellaini were played in a deeper role etc. We all know what was the impact of such strategy on the player's careers did we? If we've got the money than we should buy the players that we need. If we need a RW then we buy a RW.
But Bale is Van Gaal's idea of a right winger! Depay will have been bought for the left wing.
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