He looks the real deal, sod this whole he's a defender thing, he looks such a force in midfield.
Jack Rodwell | Sold to City
- Thread starter Gabe
- Start date
Think we should break the bank for this kid now as i've a feeling they'll be a group of european clubs after his signature towards end of season. Think a buy and loan bad deal would make sense!"
Me too. And my statistics are great: There's only one transfer the last handful of years I've been desperate for us to complete, and that was Berbatov. So when I want something/someone, I get it. Cue Berbabashers: "That didn't turn out too well, did it?" feck off.
And if that Lawrenson/Moyes thing is for real, it's looking promising.
Your stats also show you like us to buy for a lot of money with little gain.
I'm only relaying the info. Lawrenson seemed fairly convinced that its only a matter of time before he ends up at Utd.
He is always wrong though.....
haha you are right there!
Fingers cross he continues his progression. If he does, I am certain Fergie will spunk the absolute fortune it will take to get this guy... and it will look like pennies in ten years time!
Five extremely exciting British prospects coming through right now, after a few years of a bit of a drought with some decent ones but no really superstars...
Wilshere
Ramsey
Rodwell
Bale
Hart
Johnson (some people are debating this but I think he will standout this year even amongst the countless mega bucks signings at City)
Shame 2 are at Arse and 2 at City. Hopefully, Rodwell and Bale are attainable. Both are on long contracts I believe, and will cost seriously silly money but they could give ten or fifteen years service...
Cleverley, Welbeck.
Up to Glen frigging Johnson?!?!
I think he meant City Johnson, considering he said so and all.
Cleverley was POTY for Watford and usually is close to MOTM for the u21s. What's Wilshere done yet?
Cleverley was POTY for Watford and usually is close to MOTM for the u21s. What's Wilshere done yet?
14 league appearances with a top-flight team?
And? Richardson had more than that for a better team by the age of 20.
Wilshere is a better player at this moment in time, and he's younger.
God knows how Cleverley would fare with a small EPL side. I cant see him fail where Foster and Richardson had succeeded. We have some decent young talent in the team. Smalling, Evans and the Da Silva twins in defense, Cleverley and Anderson in midfield, Welbeck and Macheda upfront
Wilshire is the one player that will become huge for Arsenal and England.
I think we will end up getting Rodwell and Bale.
Hart? He will be Englands number 1 for a long time but there are others we can get that will be as good.
I'm not losing sleep over Ramsey and Johnson.
I think we will end up getting Rodwell and Bale.
Hart? He will be Englands number 1 for a long time but there are others we can get that will be as good.
I'm not losing sleep over Ramsey and Johnson.
My first time really feeling Rodwell had the "it factor" was during the Euro U21's last summer, I reckon he'll be the mo0st important Premiership transfer of the decade.
Valencia on one side and Nani on the other.Bale on one side and Nani on the other.
I think Ramsey would've turned out to be a better player than Wilshere before his injury. We'll have to wait and see how he comes back, but players are never the same when coming back from an injury like that. Its a sad, sad shame about the ankle break, ignore the pun, but he really did have the world at his feet.
Valencia on one side and Nani on the other.
it would be nice to have a flying left footer.
it is obvious nani is a bit better on the right (though he is more than serviceable on the left).
Ramsey didn't break his ankle it was higher up so he should make a full physical recovery. Diaby suffered an arguably worse break and came back though it put him back about two years. Youth is a help in getting over things like that mentally I reckon.
If thats the case and he continues to play like he had done before (obviously not getting to that standard so quickly), then I expect him to become a better player than Wilshere. Interesting, I was unaware of Diaby's leg break. He's another play I rate actually, I think he's got massive potential.
Every player has a different mentality. Ramsey must have extremely strong mental strength to come back well from this. Theres absolutely no doubt his injury will be on his mind when he steps out on the pitch once again, absolutely no doubt. This means he could pull out of certain challenges, not win 50/50s etc and his condidence could just completely shatter. We'll just have to wait and see.
Bale and Rodwell would be phenomenal additions if we could get them at some point! That would give us a team that over time could grow into something special without having to worry too much about making big signings for a few years after!
Nani needs to bulk down
Cant help but think that Bale and Ramsey would have been the closest thing we'd get to recreating Giggs and Scholes had we signed them
Wilshere will be fecking awesome imo.
Rodwell looks like a good prospect too.
England have superb pairing for the future for sure.
Rodwell looks like a good prospect too.
England have superb pairing for the future for sure.
what has achieved?
Not a lot yet. None of them have yet. That's the whole point!
However, he absolutely oozes a certain class that reminds of scholes.
I hope we cam get our hands on bale and Rodwell no matter the cost
Valencia on one side and Nani on the other.
Don't mind that one bit.
But I really rate Bale very highly. Better than Valencia IMO.
Plus having Bale, Nani and Valencia wouldn't exactly be a disaster
. With those three you'd always have cover for an injured winger.no, sneijder/robben would've been much closer IMO.
unless you were going for the british angle?
Yep best of British I'm going for. Club would have been sorted for the next decade. Frustrating thing is we were so close to signing both of them.
Ps. Robbens a cock
Rodwell is undoubtedly an immensely talented young player. But for someone who would cost upwards of £20m, and probably a lot closer to £25m, his signing would make little sense at this point, and possibly even in a year or two from now, except in the sense that he would be at Manchester United for the future.
We will obviously see how he develops over the next few years as he starts to mature in to a regular at Everton, but at the moment he's far more suited to defensive roles, either operating at center-back or as a defensive midfielder, than a box-to-box player, and I've seen little evidence in his early career to suggest that he is likely to become a play-maker of the type that Scholes is.
To be fair, there's nothing wrong with thinking that we could use another central midfielder who is most comfortable in the sitting role, and as I've argued before, some of the hopes that we can revert to a previous time with players who are not particularly proficient at the defensive side of the game in a two man midfield are rather naive, but the general consensus has been that we should be looking for a play-maker, and I don't see Rodwell as that player.
So, this looks like another one of those instances where supporters literally don't care if there is a role for the player in the team. I can understand that, but it is important to separate want from need, otherwise each summer we end up with people switching between players that are fundamentally different, simply because they admire them, with little or no thought as to whether that player is suited to the role that they themselves have previously identified as needing to be filled!
Exactly the same thing happened this summer with Ozil, with some people complaining about the manager, even though they had previously suggested that we need to find a Scholes-type replacement. So, the manager ends up getting stick for not buying a player for a role that nobody had even identified as needing improvement. It's all rather bizarre.
We will obviously see how he develops over the next few years as he starts to mature in to a regular at Everton, but at the moment he's far more suited to defensive roles, either operating at center-back or as a defensive midfielder, than a box-to-box player, and I've seen little evidence in his early career to suggest that he is likely to become a play-maker of the type that Scholes is.
To be fair, there's nothing wrong with thinking that we could use another central midfielder who is most comfortable in the sitting role, and as I've argued before, some of the hopes that we can revert to a previous time with players who are not particularly proficient at the defensive side of the game in a two man midfield are rather naive, but the general consensus has been that we should be looking for a play-maker, and I don't see Rodwell as that player.
So, this looks like another one of those instances where supporters literally don't care if there is a role for the player in the team. I can understand that, but it is important to separate want from need, otherwise each summer we end up with people switching between players that are fundamentally different, simply because they admire them, with little or no thought as to whether that player is suited to the role that they themselves have previously identified as needing to be filled!
Exactly the same thing happened this summer with Ozil, with some people complaining about the manager, even though they had previously suggested that we need to find a Scholes-type replacement. So, the manager ends up getting stick for not buying a player for a role that nobody had even identified as needing improvement. It's all rather bizarre.
We will never find a Scholes replacement. Just like we never found a replacement for Roy Keane. Those players are unique and dont come along that often.
More so, we will have to adapt to a new style of play using the players we have. and 433 seems to be that new way.
More so, we will have to adapt to a new style of play using the players we have. and 433 seems to be that new way.
Sorry Bonito, I'm not getting the idea where anyone suggested that we can play Rodwell in Scholes position.
Currently the lad has pace to ooze, has the stamina to play typically box-to-box, is a more defensive minded player than an attacker which I agree, and definately will get his fair share of moving up the pitch ala Fletch.
So if we are going to compare Rodwell, it should be close to Fletcher imo. Okay, for starters we were going to introduce him to CB, but as he played more and more in MF, he's starting to show immense potential in this role and I think he has played well.
Not to mention the game with us, but also the other games he's played I've been very impressed.
Most fans are wanting to sign him because the lad is just 20 and has already insane amount of experience, and has shown great potential, the closest young player that we've seen was Wayne Rooney and look at the player he is now.
Its worth pointing out that while we never replaced Keane we did bring in Ronaldo and Rooney, two attacking players far in advance of anything we'd ever had in the Ferguson years. That x-factor, so to speak, can come from anywhere on the field. You don't need the very best all over the pitch, and thank God because it'll never happen.
Jonny Evans has achieved far more in the game than any of that lot, and has shown every bit as much potential. I'm pretty sure he'd consider himself "British" as well.
Jonny Evans has achieved far more in the game than any of that lot, and has shown every bit as much potential. I'm pretty sure he'd consider himself "British" as well.
The thing here is that the people who genuinely want Rodwell are the ones who didn't want us to get Ozil at all costs, who didn't want a midfielder like him who offered no defensive protection and didn't fit into our team, these are the people who believe he does fit into the team in suitability of role/playing style and quality.
I think the situation's are very different. You might disagree that he suits the team, and that's understandable, but I think you're a bit off the mark when you're suggesting that there's no thought been put into how he fits in, and it's just a case of 'oh he's really good, let's get him!'.
As for whether we need him now, I think everyone will agree we don't. He won't be an immediate impact player. But bringing him in early and teaching him the United way early might speed up his progression and stop someone else from stealing him first, while offering immediate back-up if need be.
That said I'm not one of the ones suggesting we buy him. Can't say I'd be disappointed if we did though, could you?
I haven't accused anyone of suggesting that Rodwell can play in the Scholes position. But the point is that we only ever use a two or three man midfield. By definition, that limits the number and types of players that can reasonably be included in the squad in the central midfield role. At some point, we have to decide exactly what the composition of our midfield and of the midfielders in the squad should be at any one time.
If, as many have argued, we need to find a creative play-maker — a player with subtlety who touches the ball at least 20-30% more often than anyone else — then I don't see Rodwell as that player. Does that preclude him from being a future transfer target? Of course not. I could see him take Michael Carrick's role in the squad, for example. But all of these players cost money.
I can certainly see Rodwell developing in to a box-to-box player in the future, but as a creative play-maker, I'm just not convinced. So, my point is that those who do believe that we should prioritize a creative play-maker can't just switch to a player like Rodwell, without admitting that he probably isn't that player. My complaint is that we often ignore the fact that a player isn't suited to a role that even we have identified as being important, simply because we admire the player.
As I've argued before, if you look around Europe, very few teams employ a creative play-maker in a two or even three man midfield, anymore. Ironically, a lot of players are now more role specific than they ever used to be. The game has changed, of course, but it's also because there are so few of them in world football. Personally, I prefer a team that has a player like that, and I would prefer it if United had one at all times, as well. But I wouldn't complain if we can't find one and if we operate with two players that are more comfortable defensively. Lots of people do complain, however, without ever really considering the thinking behind the shift to at least two players who can protect the back four.
If that first bit is true, then I stand corrected.
But when you say that thought has been put in to how he would fit in to the team, I have seen some evidence of that, but there are also a number of people suggesting that we should buy him and even admitting that he is their "muppet target". There's nothing wrong with that, as such, but I do think that it is unfortunate when the manager gets stick for not buying players in roles that few people have actually identified as needing to be filled, and that is often fueled by people advocating the signing of players for reasons other than a specific need.
The complaint from most people, as far as I can tell, is that our midfield has too many players that are comfortable sitting and protecting the back four, and that it would be desirable to find a player in the creative play-maker role. If the idea with Rodwell is that he would be supplementary to that, as in, as well as a creative play-maker, that's a separate issue, but it would mean that we would be spending upwards of £40m in the next few years on the central midfield. That's possible, I suppose, but unlikely at this point.
I would personally be delighted if we signed Rodwell. But then, I would be delighted if we signed a number of players. I don't advocate that we sign those players, however, because we don't actually need most of them. In the next year or so, we will probably need to sign a new goalkeeper, and also decide exactly what the short term future composition of our midfield should look like. In one sense, we are a hostage to the fortune of our young midfielders, because they might decide much of that for us, either by forcing their way in to the first team thinking, or by failing to convince and moving on.
That is likely one of the reasons that the manager has seemed so unwilling to buy in that area, but as I've already said, another might be that there are very few players around the world who you could be fairly certain would genuinely improve the team and add something that we don't already possess. I'd much rather wait until the situation becomes much clearer, and that also allows us the time to assess exactly what is out there in terms of possible transfer targets.
Also see him as more similar to Fletcher in style, but more powerful, pacy and with more maturity-physically dominating.
It's true that a creative midfielder is needed, it's just that Rodwell is the kind of talent you can't miss out on.
The Ozil's etc. come and go, but if Rodwell came to OT he would probably become a long-term core player.
Once his game comes together, he could turn into a Robbo-like monolyth on the pitch. Would love to see him here...