Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

Maciej

Whatever comes to your mind
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Feb 21, 2006
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There is a rumour about Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

We all know that it's difficult to keep Tevez at Old Trafford and there's probably a good opportunity to sign Huntelaar from Madrid.

Spaniards want about £15m for him and he's likely to leave Bernabeu Stadium. Florentino Perez will probably become their president and he wants to sign some world-class strikers. Ruud van Nistelrooy is also ready to play next season after injury.

Huntelaar played 17 league matches for Madrid this season (he joined them in January) and scored 8 goals. He was left out of their Champions League squad, in favour of Lassana Diarra.

I think we don't need any signings this summer, because we have Rooney and Berbatov (with Campbell, Macheda and Welbeck fighting for third spot). However, £15m seem to be a good occasion to buy Huntelaar, who's not bad player and I think he fits to Premier League more than La Liga and that would mean Campbell won't make it here and Macheda or Welbeck goes on loan.

What do you think?

klaas-jan-huntelaar-18.jpg
 
I'll stick my neck on the line and say that, for £15m, I would. I wanted him last summer (and the one before) but it never came. For me, he would be pretty good as our 3rd striker after Rooney and Berbatov.

Chances of Real selling us anyone if we're not doing business with Ronaldo? Pretty slim.
 
He's a world class finisher.

Beyond useless outside of that.

His movement's good, his hold-up play is decent, but when he gets on the ball he's really, really bad.
 
If he's slow then he wouldn't suit us against top teams where goals tend to come from swift counter-attacks.

He would be more use against weaker teams that are pinned back, but they're the games that you would want to play the youngsters in, so I'm not convinced.
 
He may not be the ideal player for every single game but he would give us options. Id say he would be a fantastic 3rd striker.
 
devilish said:
He may not be the ideal player for every single game but he would give us options. Id say he would be a fantastic 3rd striker.
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The reason he's leaving Madrid is because he's third choice and doesn't like it.

He wouldn't move here to be third choice.
 
For 15mil, absolutely why not? His goal record everywhere he goes is sensational and with the amount of chances we create in a game, he could do the business for us no doubt. I've wanted us to buy him the last few years, I thought we'd do it last summer if SAF got bored of the whole 'Berba-Spurs' saga which ran for ages but obviously we got Berba in the end. If Tevez goes (which looks increasingly likely), I don't think it'll do us harm to try and bring in Huntelaar. We shall just wait and see.
 
Brwned said:
The reason he's leaving Madrid is because he's third choice and doesn't like it.

He wouldn't move here to be third choice.
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Klas Huntelaar played just 17 games with Real + he wasn't included in the CL team. With United he will be given more space, more respect and a decent chance of becoming first teamer. No big side can guarantee you a first team place. We are talking about Manchester United not Torquay United.
 
devilish said:
Klas Huntelaar played just 17 games with Real + he wasn't included in the CL team. With United he will be given more space, more respect and a decent chance of becoming first teamer.
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Huntelaar played 17 games out of a possible 25, or something. He played in about 3/4 of their games.

Not sure what point you're trying to make.

He's leaving because he wants to be first choice at a big club.
 
MUFCgal said:
For 15mil, absolutely why not? His goal record everywhere he goes is sensational and with the amount of chances we create in a game, he could do the business for us no doubt. I've wanted us to buy him the last few years, I thought we'd do it last summer if SAF got bored of the whole 'Berba-Spurs' saga which ran for ages but obviously we got Berba in the end. If Tevez goes (which looks increasingly likely), I don't think it'll do us harm to try and bring in Huntelaar. We shall just wait and see.
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Your reasoning is sound. If Tevez leaves, i hope not, he wouldnt be a bad replacement especially if he can handle being 2nd/3rd choice. At the very least we know he has a good history of goal scoring and can lead the line if needed.
 
Brwned said:
He's leaving because he wants to be first choice at a big club.
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Then he can forget of ever joining a big club since no big club can guarantee him that. He will have to fight for a first team place in every big side he joins.

Stating that at United he will have a chance to achieve what he wants (ie first team place). We tend to play according to form and not according to names.
 
devilish said:
Then he can forget of ever joining a big club since no big club can guarantee him that. He will have to fight for a first team place in every big side he joins.
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He doesn't need to be guaranteed first choice, he needs to know he'll have a good chance of being first choice.

But he won't, because he's just not as good as either of our two first choice strikers.
 
He is really not good enough to be first choice at a big club like Real Madrid. I don't think his general play is really good enough for us. He would be a good squad player for United, but I highly doubt he would be first choice. His general play simply isn't up to the standard of what we have presently.
 
Brwned said:
He doesn't need to be guaranteed first choice, he needs to know he'll have a good chance of being first choice if he plays well.

But he won't, because he's just not as good as either of our two first choice strikers.
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He has different characteristics. In certain games Huntelaar will be a wiser choice then Berbatov while in other he isnt. If SAF's keeps on sticking Rooney on the left and Berbatov deep then I think that Huntelaar can easily slot in nearly all games.
 
Raven_Blade said:
Your reasoning is sound. If Tevez leaves, i hope not, he wouldnt be a bad replacement especially if he can handle being 2nd/3rd choice. At the very least we know he has a good history of goal scoring and can lead the line if needed.
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Exactly, he's lead the line which we don't really have at the moment as Rooney, Berba & Tevez are all strikers who like to drop deep and get involved in build up play. People do say that there's not much else to Huntelaar's game besides goal scoring but at the end of the day, as long as he gets the goals then who cares? We have enough people who create and build up play, if all Huntelaar does is get on the end of those chances and take them, then why complain.
 
Why would Madrid sell him for less than the 20 million they paid?

This is just the first step in stories over the summer, where he'll be bundled into the stories about Ronaldo as part exchange for a deal.

Like Sneijder and Ribery.
 
Oh and he's a quality finisher. But thats it. If he's the kind of striker we should be looking for to replace Tevez, Madrid would be fighting tooth and nail to keep him. Instead they want him gone.
 
Playing he way we do, every player going forward needs to be involved in the build-up.

Our style of play won't work with someone as one dimensional as Huntelaar.

Better to have a finisher who can play a bit, like Macheda, who's already better than Huntelaar in the build-up. Or we could just not have a finisher up front at all, and play with multi-dimensional players like Rooney, Tevez, Saha and Berbatov up front, like we've done successfully for the last three years.

None of them are natural finishers, but all of them involve themselves in the build-up well and two of them are two of the best No. 9's around, when fit.
 
Brwned said:
Playing he way we do, every player going forward needs to be involved in the build-up.

Our style of play won't work with someone as one dimensional as Huntelaar.
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We used to say that our system needed 2 hardworking beasts upfront to function properly. Then we signed Berbatov whose anything but hardworking. Systems are more adaptable then you think. Honestly I think that a midfield/forward line made up of Hargreaves/Fletcher, Carrick, Rooney, Berbatov, Ronaldo and Huntelaar is fluid and hardworking enough.
 
devilish said:
We used to say that our system needed 2 hardworking beasts upfront to function well. Then we signed Berbatov whose anything but hardworking. Systems are more adaptable then you think.
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I doubt many people said that, seeing as the majority of the people here wanted Berbatov to sign, and obviously thought it wasn't essential to be hardworking.
 
Brwned said:
I doubt many people said that, seeing as the majority of the people here wanted Berbatov to sign, and obviously thought it wasn't essential to be hardworking.
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Im talking about the pre berbatov times.
 
devilish said:
Im talking about the pre berbatov times.
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When?

When we had Tevez and Rooney up front? Because loads of people wanted us to sign Berbatov then, too. Pretty much for the entire season that Tevez and Rooney played together actually, which culminated in us actually signing Berbatov once that season was finished, cue mass delight at the signing.
 
Brwned said:
When?

When we had Tevez and Rooney up front? Because loads of people wanted us to sign Berbatov then, too. Pretty much for the entire season that Tevez and Rooney played together actually.
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And there were many who said that he would make us slower. Anyway, I think that our team is creative and hardworking enough to afford a player like Huntelaar upfront in much of the games.
 
devilish said:
And there were many who said that he would make us slower. Anyway, I think that our team is creative and hardworking enough to afford a player like Huntelaar upfront in much of the games.
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There were many, but the majority thought otherwise.

Chances are we won't be buying him and I'm happy with that.

I'd have been happy if we signed him last summer, not as happy as I was when we signed Berbatov though. But yeah, I'd have been happy then because he'd suit playing alongside Rooney and Tevez, someone who does all the running for him.

He wouldn't suit playing alongside Berbatov, and the frontline would be far too static.

Movement's the most important thing to have up front, in our team. At least one player has to have great movement, Rooney does on his own and Tevez and Huntelaar combined would.
 
Wew
Brwned said:
There were many, but the majority thought otherwise.

Chances are we won't be buying him and I'm happy with that.

I'd have been happy if we signed him last summer, not as happy as I was when we signed Berbatov though. But yeah, I'd have been happy then because he'd suit playing alongside Rooney and Tevez, someone who does all the running for him.

He wouldn't suit playing alongside Berbatov, and the frontline would be far too static.

Movement's the most important thing to have in a No. 9, in our team.
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I wouldnt say that this team is static.

----------Hargreaves/Fletch---------Carrick/Anderson--------------

Ronaldo------------------Berbatov---------------------Rooney

-------------------------Huntelaar-------------------------

Let us not forget also that Andy Cole started his career (at Newcastle) as goal poacher and ended up one of the most hardworking strikers of his generation. Huntelaar may not be renowned for his workrate (he will never work hard for the ball as Tevez does) but he is not a lazy player, and he knows when he needs to drop deep.

Stating that, if we need more steel we can always stick Park on the left and play Rooney upfront with Anderson/Giggs/Berbatov/Ronaldo at his back.
 
Would be fairly predictable though. Mark Berbatov tightly and the supply line is cut almost completely because Huntelaar is never going to create things on his own for himself or his team mates. That leaves restricting the wide players the only job and to be honest, teams have done that quite well recently - with better movement down the middle though, it would help them a lot. But that side doesnt have it by a long margin.
 
Ekeke said:
Would be fairly predictable though. Mark Berbatov tightly and the supply line is cut almost completely because Huntelaar is never going to create things on his own for himself or his team mates. That leaves restricting the wide players the only job and to be honest, teams have done that quite well recently - with better movement down the middle though, it would help them a lot. But that side doesnt have it by a long margin.
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If we need to change system we can always put Rooney upfront with Park/Nani on the left and Berbatov/Giggs/Anderson at his back. We can also play Ronaldo upfront with Rooney at his back. On the other hand does the present side have a striker with the physique and the killer instinct to lead the line (without having to move their best winger upfront)? The only decent option we currently have is Rooney and he is not a natural finisher.
 
Not that I'm a fan of the player. And I would sigh if we did sign him. Really loudly. But :

"Its his first season!"

"His team mates need to get used to playing with him!"

etc.

All the excuses that were used for Berbatov can be used for Huntelaar, who has been at his club an even shorter time. So if he hasnt done it for them yet, we shouldnt be holding it against him more than Berbatov who has been here twice as long as Huntelaar has been in Madrid.
 
devilish said:
----------Hargreaves/Fletch---------Carrick/Anderson--------------

Ronaldo------------------Berbatov---------------------Rooney

-------------------------Huntelaar-------------------------

.
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if we were going to go back to having 2 wide players and 2 strikers (not sure we will as didnt saf say that he felt this made us too easy to play against in europe?)... but IF we did id much sooner us buy a left winger (silva for example) qnd playing rooney in the middle
 
devilish said:
If we need to change system we can always put Rooney upfront with Park/Nani on the left and Berbatov/Giggs/Anderson at his back. We can also play Ronaldo upfront with Rooney at his back. On the other hand does the present side have a striker with the physique and the killer instinct to lead the line (without having to move their best winger upfront)? The only decent option we currently have is Rooney and he is not a natural finisher.
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Huntelaar doesnt use his physique particularly well though. His hold up play isnt very good.

What he would provide to the side is a player who will take most of the chances that are created for him.

He isnt particularly good at helping the team create those chances for him, with movement or team work and hold up play.

He's just good at putting the ball in the net on the odd occasion he gets the ball played or whipped into him perfectly enough for him to get his finish away. He will rarely miss when the chances come, they just wont come brilliantly frequently.
 
Ekeke said:
Not that I'm a fan of the player. And I would sigh if we did sign him. Really loudly. But :

"Its his first season!"

"His team mates need to get used to playing with him!"

etc.

All the excuses that were used for Berbatov can be used for Huntelaar, who has been at his club an even shorter time. So if he hasnt done it for them yet, we shouldnt be holding it against him more than Berbatov who has been here twice as long as Huntelaar has been in Madrid.
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+ 8 goals in 17 games (much of which were as a reserve) is far from dissapointing.
 
EZee said:
if we were going to go back to having 2 wide players and 2 strikers (not sure we will as didnt saf say that he felt this made us too easy to play against in europe?)... but IF we did id much sooner us buy a left winger (silva for example) qnd playing rooney in the middle
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That would just be amazing. 3 players who are best in the number 10 role. Maybe we could play Rooney through the middle and get Van Der Vaart to come in as well. Our front 4, all number 10s.

devilish said:
+ 8 goals in 17 games (much of which were as a reserve) is far from dissapointing.
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Oh I see, thats why they want rid of him then?

Its funny because I dont see any stories about them getting rid of Higuain.
 
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