He could be talking out of his arse seem as its sunday tomorrow....to spice up the sports section of his newspaper and to sell more copies but usually the guardian are a tiny bit more reliable then the tabloids but not always
Thiago Alcantara | Signed for Bayern Munich
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran are here to talk about a frustrating 2 points dropped at Crystal Palace. They then discuss the regeneration of Old Trafford. Finally, Nik is joined by special guest Michael Statham from the Football Oranje podcast - who gives us a more in depth look at our EL opposition FC Twente, and then runs through the (many) Dutch connections currently at United.
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Jamie "Jermaine" Jackson's article in full
Why is this taking so long. 
I hope all our other muppet targets aren't hurt by the time and energy we are devoting to Thiago.
I hope all our other muppet targets aren't hurt by the time and energy we are devoting to Thiago.
High up the pitch, 4-2-3-1 - playing just ahead of Carrick and a CM. Someone will need to clean up behind Thiago because he will have lapses in concentration, or at least he hasn't rid that from his game yet, where he will gift possession away. There will be an adjustment since United play nothing like Barcelona or Spain. I'm sure he'd adapt & excel, he's a footballer and a footballer can play anywhere
don't think tweets from pretend itk accounts add much to the thread.
This was his previous article. Much more negative: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jun/21/manchester-united-barcelona-thiago-alcantara
Well I could make an account and quote it in here. We are struggle to get any reliable information from journo's so how redissue1 knows the ins and outs of united transfer policy leaves the mind boggling
Thanks, interesting. How that fits in with Rooney, Kagawa, and any possible plans for another CM signing is an interesting puzzle to ponder.
It's not hard to keep the thread semi sensible either, mate.
He makes Indyshit looks a professional journo. I though that we said to not post this kind of shit even in twitter thread, let alone in this thread.
A swap deal is a muppet's wet dream. The only recent high profiles ones I can remember are Zlatan-Eto'o and Cole-Gallas deals,
It's not even redissue but redissue1. How obscure account can you link?
Wow, people can't read
People can read mate and they come on here to discus Thiago ability and also for any news on his transfer the media or people with connections in the game provide. Unless you're going to make people laugh ala olly/jeston. Your not really contributing much to the discussion posting bogus twitter itk.
Peope can read perfectly fine, which is why they don't want every single bullshit Tweet in this thread, as it makes it pretty hard to "leave it".
Gazza we've all decided to leave it. I suggest you "take" shite tweets like that and "leave" them where you found them.
Apologies everyoneI disagree. Obviously you've seen a lot of Thiago, but that's not how United are likely to fit him in. A team like Real or Bayern would probably have to play him as the AM, because their CM pair are always deep-lying, very defensively sound players. United, however, tend to go for a pair of complementary box-to-boxers.
Thiago has more than enough defensively and tactically to partner Carrick behind Kagawa (or Rooney, if you're that way inclined). Certainly he's more dependable in that position than Cleverley, Anderson, Giggs or even, in a way, Jones, all of whom we played there last season. (Jones is obviously an excellent defender, and is good in a man-marking role, but I've never thought he understands the midfield anywhere near well enough to be an effective conventional DM/CM.)
I also think that this is the most likely scenario. Though he could easily play as the most advanced midfielder in a midfield three. Not advanced like Kagawa, Rooney or Ozil at Madrid but more like a Iniesta type of advanced. Though for that, we need to play a possession game which we never did under Fergie, and I doubt that we'll do under Moyes. But, it wouldn't be that bad having a midfield of Carrick, Cleverley(Anderson or a new signing) and Thiago, with Kagawa and Nani in wings behind RVP. But still, the most likely scenario is that he'll play in a midfield two with Carrick, in a role very similar to Cleverley this season. The good thing is that he's very adaptable and can play in a lot of positions, even as an inside forward from the left side if we ever need to.
Well, I'd just add that I think it'd be the wrong way to use him but should the transfer go through, we'll see, of course. I think he has to be close to goal and while he isn't slow, Thiago doesn't have the pace/stamina to play box to box in the Premiership
This is the main reason why this will be (for me) a bizarre signing. Especially if we look to be keeping Rooney and with Kagawa being 'obviously' playing out of position.
The intentions must be to play Thiago in the second CM role next to Carrick, and I am fairly sure he'll excel there.
Glad you brought that up. He gets sloppy at times and our midfield can't afford that since we don't have a dedicated defensive midfielder.
He can dribble really well(as shown by his dribbling stats posted previously), he can also tackle and intercept. Do you think he could play as the deepest midfielder in a midfield three? Behind Carrick and another water carrier. Or will that be wasting his abilities? He can play long balls, and can dribble the ball out of defense
I had a look at this article, Thiago is really versatile.
I sort of agree with you both. I've heard a few people talk about Thiago as a Scholes replacement and many people talking about his excellent ball retention but I don't think that's quite true. He's obviously a very gifted passer and has excellent control but he takes a lot of risks, loves to hold onto the ball for too long and generally isn't one to go for the simple ball. That's generally the skillset of an attacking midfielder or at the very least someone who needs the support of two other centre mids. We frequently play attacking midfielders like this in centre mid though - Anderson's pretty similar in terms of his approach and flaws and Giggs takes more risks than any CM at a top club. It remains to be seen whether Moyes will set his teams up the same way but I suspect he would be bought as a centre mid. It's definitely not a rock solid midfield duo but it wouldn't make us any more porous than we are at the moment.
You can't leave Thiago as the deepest midfielder at United, IMO
Agreed. He may occasionally work in a more advanced role but I think he's going to be our new 'Scholes.'
Bizarre signing?
He has at least as much pace/stamina as Tom Cleverley (probably much more, in fact), and has much more to his game so could play a deep lying playmaker to conserve his energy during games. He is literally the perfect midfield partner for Michael Carrick, in my opinion.
He has at least as much pace/stamina as Tom Cleverley (probably much more, in fact), and has much more to his game so could play a deep lying playmaker to conserve his energy during games. He is literally the perfect midfield partner for Michael Carrick, in my opinion.
I agree with you completely here, while FCBarca has seen more of him than we have, I agree with you that the United system should mean that he can play alongside Carrick rather than in front of him.
IMO he'd actually fit into the United side better than he ever has the Barca side as we're a side that has genuine defenders in the spine and the focus is not so much on possession and suffocation as it is on controlling the game while taking calculated risks to continually expose. He'd be allowed more space to create and the natural adventure in his game would be encouraged rather than stifled by the discipline expected at Barca.
Nothing I've seen of him says CM. He would ideally play in the hole - where you don't play Kagawa.
He'd play a similar role to Cleverley last season, hopefully going through 35-40 games without dying after an hour.
Given his confidence on the ball and ability to play simple but effective football, I don't see why he couldn't excel in a withdrawn central role. He'll still have that freedom alongside Carrick, especially with Rooney and Kagawa ahead who are willing to come deep and switch.
He does look the kind of player who'd be smashing 'in the hole', but he also looks very capable of being a serious ball player bang in the middle.
Given his confidence on the ball and ability to play simple but effective football, I don't see why he couldn't excel in a withdrawn central role. He'll still have that freedom alongside Carrick, especially with Rooney and Kagawa ahead who are willing to come deep and switch.
He does look the kind of player who'd be smashing 'in the hole', but he also looks very capable of being a serious ball player bang in the middle.
To add to what I said above, our counter attacking game has always been built on the stability and confidence provided by a strong centreback paring rather than having a dedicated defensive midfielder like Busquets. Carrick provides some protection (a lot considering what else he does) and that's why I think Thiago would excel here. The defensive responsibility is fairly low considering it'd be a "midfield two" and he'd have a lot of freedom to find space and create.
Closer to the goal. He never had that much goals scored or assists make. His best position is probably be the most advanced in a midfield three for a team that plays possession game, but we don't play like that. Him playing as the second most advanced player would be failure IMO, he's not the type of player you can expect 30+ goal/assists for season. Also, he has always been described as Xavi successor and Xavi wasn't your most advanced midfielder to you. From what I have seen of him (very much) he can be an absolute beast as a playmaker in a deeper role (like Xavi to you). He has all attributes for this, and while he had some signs of losing concentration at times, this was only on context of Barca players that are total freaks on that regard, and to us keeping the ball it's not that important as for your team. I see Thiago as a replace for Cleverley and I think that he's superior to him in every aspect of the game, especially when it comes to his creativity and taking more risky options than Cleverley. If he signs I'll expect soon enough that he will be the center of everything for our midfield, and the best option IMO is a midfield three of him, Carrick and Kagawa. All of them are players who likes to pass and will thrive next to each other. Though, it could be ok a midfield of Carrick, Cleverley(Ando) and him, with Thiago being the most advanced of them. We'll see, I think but I really think that he has a lot of potential and is very intelligent to be able to play in whatever formation Moyes makes.
It seems like every talented young foreign midfielder nowadays can only play "in the hole". It's a wonder there are any actual midfielders left out there.
The last thing we should sign is a CM without stamina.
He played in the CM role in two of the games in the U21 tournament, and he was excellent. Granted, he scored a hattrick when he was in the AM role, but he definitely showed that he can also play the more subdued CM role.
Or Anderson, or Cleverley, or Rooney. Like I said - it will be a bizarre signing imo.
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