Radamel Falcao | Ducker: Medical passed!

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bosnian_red said:
Well you could say that Barca had Fabregas on the bench, so their midfield situation was like our striker situation. Or Muller at Bayern last season, though he obviously played loads.

I agree with you that this makes no sense, but if the Van Persie needing surgery story is true then maybe we do need one. Surgery at his age would probably make him decline loads, though the question then would be why not just give welbeck games. Maybe van Gaal decided he's not deadly enough or doesn't get in good positions enough and just decided he doesn't have what it required, or maybe (more likely) welbeck just wants to leave. That would leave us with Rooney and Wilson as fit forwards so a loan deal with falcao makes sense. Only in that rather unlikely scenario thoughm
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Give Welbeck games? Jesus Christ we are trying to get back in the top 4. Hell why did we buy Di maria and not just give Nani or Adnan games....
 
Lowkey said:
this day :lol: i think there could be one more coming :D
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Perhaps we peaked too early … always leave 'em wantin' more!
PiggyInTheHay.jpg
 
Our wage bill has shot through the roof this summer, even though we lost four experienced players.
 
mu4c_20le said:
Ahh just woke up to this wonderful news. Loan deal makes total sense now. We use the Hernandez/Welbeck/Cleverley money to sign him on loan, and give RVP a year to prove his fitness. If he's done, we'll sign Falcao if he sets the world alight. Can't fecking wait to see what LVG can do with him.
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I think the latest is we've already bought Falcao, Monaco must have wanted the fee spread out over 2 seasons for FF reasons, so it's being called a loan but I don't think we have a choice to get out of it after a year.
 
Wow this is an exciting signing.

Yes there are other areas that need improvement but this is a massive signing.

Him and Di Maria will create a real buzz amongst the squad.

Finally acting like one of the biggest clubs on the world.
 
odinnh said:
Vidal must look at this signing and think ...
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Vidal must think wtf was juve demanding for his services; we just signed Di Maria and falcao for record sums....those bastards at juve must have been asking for woodies first born child or something.
 
So is Mata going to be the one that misses out with Falcaos signing with Rooney perhaps dropping deeper? I reckon so
De Gea

Rafael - Jones - Rojo - Shaw

Herrera - Blind - Di Maria

Rooney

Van Persie - Falcao
 
Ringo 07 said:
So is Mata going to be the one that misses out with Falcaos signing with Rooney perhaps dropping deeper? I reckon so
De Gea

Rafael - Jones - Rojo - Shaw

Herrera - Blind - Di Maria

Rooney

Van Persie - Falcao
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Rvp is going to be out for a long time...mata is ok for now
 
Ringo 07 said:
So is Mata going to be the one that misses out with Falcaos signing with Rooney perhaps dropping deeper? I reckon so
De Gea

Rafael - Jones - Rojo - Shaw

Herrera - Blind - Di Maria

Rooney

Van Persie - Falcao
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Quite a few rumors van Persie is getting surgery on his knee.
 
Not convinced this is a good idea. Have to wait and see what else happens so we know how he fits into the team.

I know it's not either/or but it seems bizzare to bring in yet another striker when there are other areas so desperate for top quality.

Still, glad it's a loan at first. If he doesn't work out then we're not too badly hurt. He is a phenomenal player at his best too tbf.

I remember when we were linked with Cavani I said it was madness but "if it was someone like Falcao I could sort of understand it". Think I'm a bit more undecided now that it's actually happened.
 
Ringo 07 said:
So is Mata going to be the one that misses out with Falcaos signing with Rooney perhaps dropping deeper? I reckon so
De Gea

Rafael - Jones - Rojo - Shaw

Herrera - Blind - Di Maria

Rooney

Van Persie - Falcao
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RVP is either out, or moved onto the bench. Will give us squad depth.
 
Brwned said:
My only point was that no-one has a world class player on the bench despite all the rhetoric by managers/directors of football at the top clubs. It just doesn't happen. Turns out you can maybe argue that's true of Bayern/Gotze but then he can play in any of 6 positions - and that's something he did last year to get the necessary game time. I don't think anyone would argue any of the others are "world class" by any definition and that includes those at City.

For the most part the reason they have expensive benches is mainly because of the players' age, potential and long-term contribution to the squad. They're brought in as squad players with the potential to challenge for the first team. City are different, they buy the likes of Navas, Negredo and Fernando - squad players capable of becoming first team players, but none of them would have expected to walk straight into the team. That's different to what's going on here. We've just bought another world class player, in his prime, to either stick on the bench or bench one of the few world class players we have in the squad.

Basically, the Falcao/Rooney/van Persie issue is something unique to our club and I personally think it's an absurd signing. I don't think it's a van Gaal signing and don't expect him to work miracles at all. The club has brought in some very good players which will bolster the squad considerably and I'm more than happy with how things have went on the whole. I just think this particular signing is the wrong one.
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As others have pointed out the age/injury records of our other two main strikers have to be taken into account. Personally, I think RvP has either gone into steep decline over the last 12 months (not unusual for a striker of his age) or the rumours about him needing a major operation to sort his knee out must have some substance. In either scenario, there will be nobody better informed than Louis Van Gaal. Hence, I think you're jumping to (uncharacteristically negative) conclusions by assuming this signing has been parachuted in over his head. He certainly doesn't strike me as the kind of manager to sit quietly by if the men in suits feck him over by signing players he doesn't want or need, whilst ignoring the players he really does want to sign. Especially at such a critical juncture in his United career. Doesn't seem to me the sort of risk that Woody would be willing to take.
 
RedorDead21 said:
Give Welbeck games? Jesus Christ we are trying to get back in the top 4. Hell why did we buy Di maria and not just give Nani or Adnan games....
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Welbeck's a long-term solution. Falcao isn't. di Maria replacing Nani isn't sacrificing the long term for the short term, so that's fine. Sacrificing Welbeck for Falcao will mean that we'll only have Wilson for the long term along with the headache of managing Rooney, van Persie, and Falcao all together (unless van Persie leaves the club in the next window).
 
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/bl...ao-manchester-united-formation-louis-van-gaal

There is no doubt Manchester United’s move for Radamel Falcao came as a jolt for the football world, with all the questions it leaves about how Louis van Gaal can possibly shoehorn everyone in, Galactico-style, but the truth is that the people in charge at Old Trafford decided long ago that a frontline including the considerable talents of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie was not dynamic enough for a club of their ambitions.

David Moyes was the first person to identify the issue and initially thought Edinson Cavani had the directness and penetrative qualities to give the team a more vibrant attacking edge. Moyes told Ed Woodward, United’s chief executive, during one strategy meeting that the Uruguayan would “score goals for fun”. A meeting was arranged with his agent, Claudio Anelluci, and United were given the firm impression Cavani wanted it to happen. However, Moyes watched Cavani three times after the turn of the year and he was poor every time. Paris Saint-Germain wanted £65m and Moyes, with deficiencies in midfield and defence, decided the money was better spent elsewhere.
What perhaps comes as a surprise is that Van Gaal still wanted another forward, even though Ángel di María signed from Real Madrid for a British record fee last week and it did not need forensic analysis to realise United’s squad were already top-heavy with attackers but conspicuously short in defence.

Yet United acted swiftly and decisively when Jorge Mendes, the agent representing Falcao, got in touch on Sunday. Mendes, whose other deals this summer include Di María, James Rodríguez, Diego Costa and Eliaquim Mangala, has struck up a strong relationship with Woodward, to the point of regularly texting him with family photographs. What followed, by modern standards, was an agreement of uncommon speed that demonstrates, again, United’s determination to spend their way back to the top of their sport.

Where Falcao fits in – or, rather, who drops out – is another matter entirely and it is not being unduly negative to wonder if United have jumbled priorities, given the imbalance it leaves Van Gaal, with a pick of superstars for their front positions but a defence that will always encourage opponents.

Van Gaal has never been afraid to leave out players who previously considered themselves mandatory first-team picks and, ordinarily, Rooney’s place would have to be vulnerable. Yet Van Gaal has just given him the captaincy and one of the reasons he made that decision was he envisaged the player, who has just clocked up his 10th anniversary at Old Trafford, being involved every week.

Van Persie is firmly established as one of the manager’s favourites and maybe that means it will be Juan Mata who has to suffer the consequences. Mata could probably be forgiven for wondering where all this leaves him – and let’s not forget how it might affect Adnan Januzaj either. Nobody should doubt Januzaj has the gifts to go to the highest levels of his profession – described by one senior football man at Old Trafford as a “young Johan Cruyff” – but even someone with his ability and self-belief might be wondering how the past week will impinge on him.

Before anything, Van Gaal has to decide whether to stick with his 3-4-1-2 formation after its conspicuous lack of success so far or switch to a more conventional system, most likely 4-3-3, that might be better suited to his evolving squad.

A front three of Di María, Van Persie and Falcao would be a daunting prospect for even the most accomplished defence and perhaps this is now the point in Rooney’s career when he and his manager have to start giving more thought to him dropping into midfield.

Moyes was convinced it was inevitable at some stage because Rooney had lost the burst of pace that made him such a whirlwind of a player when he was younger and the former manager would privately admit he should have been emboldened enough to do it more times last season. Moyes was also under the impression that Rooney was more receptive to the idea than people might realise, in contrast to the days when the player would openly complain if he were shifted from his usual role in central attack.

There was, however, a feeling among the coaching staff that Rooney needed to learn the role and was not a natural. More than anything, they were concerned that Rooney was not particularly good at short passes, in the way that Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes would give and go. They knew Rooney could play the killer pass. The issue was whether he knew the right moment to look for that pass.

In the meantime, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera have joined the club as upgrades to Marouane Fellaini and Tom Cleverley. Carrick is still to return from injury, with Darren Fletcher in reserve, and there is finally the sense that United have started to fix some of the midfield issues they have neglected too long.

It is in defence where United have a lopsided look and there are no apologies here for repeating that, before even thinking of adding Falcao to the payroll, they surely ought to have done more to improve their backline when they had so much advance warning Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand were on their way as well as ongoing concerns about the amount of time it was taking for Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones – all too erratic and too injury-prone – to fulfil their potential.

“Potential”, Sir Alex Ferguson used to say, is a dangerous word. “I kept hearing about the potential of this guy when I first came to United,” he once said of Peter Barnes. “Everyone was telling me he had great potential – but he was 30 years old. It’s made me dislike the word.”

Evans was marked three out of 10 in the Manchester Evening News for hisperformance against MK Dons last weekand, at 26, it feels as if we have been talking about his potential since his loan spell with Sunderland six years ago. To put it bluntly, he needs to get a move on.

Welbeck is another one who has frequently tempted us to believe he can shine consistently at the highest level but never quite done enough to remove all the lingering question marks. Welbeck, on form, can be a formidable opponent, with that long stride, upper-body strength and direct running. Yet his defining moment last season came in the Champions League quarter-final at home to Bayern Munich when he ran through the opposition defence to face Manuel Neuer.

What is not widely known about that night is that United’s scouting staff had noticed a possible flaw in Neuer in these positions, whereby he would often leave the ground as he spread his body, almost Schmeichel-esque.

Welbeck had been instructed that if this moment arrived he should keep the ball low. He didn’t listen. He tried a chip and got it horribly wrong. Neuer made the save and United, ultimately, went out.

It was three weeks later when it came out Welbeck had asked to leave, frustrated by his inability to win a regular starting place and not sure when it would ever change. Mata, one suspects, might be experiencing the same kind of insecurities over the coming months. Januzaj, too. Yet that will always be the way of big clubs and at least United can be certain now that they still appeal to category-A footballers. It is just a pity for Van Gaal, perhaps, that they all occupy roughly the same positions.
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Ringo 07 said:
So is Mata going to be the one that misses out with Falcaos signing with Rooney perhaps dropping deeper? I reckon so
De Gea

Rafael - Jones - Rojo - Shaw

Herrera - Blind - Di Maria

Rooney

Van Persie - Falcao
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Getting Falcao isn't going to change our defensive formation with 3 defenders at the back.
 
:lol: "done dealio" being written into Cafe folklore.
 
Option #1:

Falcao

Rooney-----Mata-----Di Maria

Herrera-----Blind

Shaw-----Rojo-----Jones-----Rafael

De Gea​


Option #2:

Falcao-----Rooney


Di Maria-----Herrera

Blind

Shaw------------------------Rafael

Rojo-----Smalling-----Jones

De Gea​
 
Pogue Mahone said:
As others have pointed out the age/injury records of our other two main strikers have to be taken into account. Personally, I think RvP has either gone into steep decline over the last 12 months (not unusual for a striker of his age) or the rumours about him needing a major operation to sort his knee out must have some substance. In either scenario, there will be nobody better informed than Louis Van Gaal. Hence, I think you're jumping to (uncharacteristically negative) conclusions by assuming this signing has been parachuted in over his head. He certainly doesn't strike me as the kind of manager to sit quietly by if the men in suits feck him over by signing players he doesn't want or need, whilst ignoring the players he really does want to sign. Especially at such a critical juncture in his United career. Doesn't seem to me the sort of risk that Woody would be willing to take.
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Falcao's 28 and has recently recovered from a long-term knee injury. Yes, he looks fit and sharp at this moment, but can we be certain that he can keep himself fit for a long time?

Plus, we now have 1 striker who's entered his 30's and two strikers who are entering their 30's. Our only long-term solution (assuming that Welbeck leaves) is Wilson. In the long term, we'll have a problem replacing our 3 established forwards. Welbeck and Wilson would have been good replacements for those three, but with Welbeck leaving, we'll have to find a good replacement elsewhere.
 
No way, I come home and see this, now way. I refuse to believe we now have Falcao, Mata,ADM playing for united..
 
Must be very exciting getting Di Maria and Falcao in one week. The last time i got this level of excitment over signings was when we got Schmeichel (oh what a day it was, half of Lisbon was euphoric and Jardel, before the coke phase). Amazing work by Woodward. Not only he sold Bébé, he´s done very well in the transfer market.
 
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