Thiago Alcantara | Signed for Bayern Munich

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van der star said:
Matthias Sammer has today denied that Bayern have signed Thiago Alcantara.
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He said that he hasn't signed yet and there would be a club statement as normal if anyone had signed.
He also said, that "we don't comment on transfers in progress."
 
It would tie in with Moyes recent comments on Thiago. On the other hand, Moyes would have to be an absolute retard to think that way. Spanish players have been a massive sucess in the Premier League. Sounds like bollocks to me.
 
I cant believe we've screwed this up so badly....then again, I sort of can.
 
Balague doing a balague, nothing to see here. Thiago chose to follow his mentor, and was assured plenty of game time, end of story.
 
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twas but a dream
 
Woodward said just a day ago that Moyes is the one pulling all the strings as far as transfers are concerned. Yet we have Mr.Ballsack stating that United (Moyes) are willing to push the transfer but in the same sentence, Mr. Ballsack contradicts that by saying Moyes doesn't believe is Thiago's ability in the Premier League.

Well done you carrot.
 
Got to be bullshit from Balague, Moyes doesn't believe his football would work in PL? If he was still in charge of Everton with a chance of getting this guy he would rip off his own testicles to get him.

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Let's be honest, IF Thiago chooses Bayern then it's most likely because he wants to link up with his former manager and because he wants to join the reigning CL holders. It's too easy to just point the finger and look to blame someone for it.
 
There's quite a few journalist/broadcaster types rapidly throwing Moyes under the bus instead of 'fessing up that they were wrong about their 'Thiago to United 100%' stories.
 
Obviously I have no idea what happened here, but Moyes was pretty hopeless at closing out transfers at Everton.
 
SteveJ said:
There's quite a few journalist/broadcaster types rapidly throwing Moyes under the bus instead of 'fessing up that they were wrong about their 'Thiago to United 100%' stories.
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Yup, it's quite an easy way for them to direct any flak they're getting.
 
If true what ballague said about moyes not being sure if he would work in the premier league, then I really am worried. 5 years from now when he's one of the best in the world he and the bayern fans will be laughing at what we could have had, but somebody bought into the myth of the premier league being such a hard league to play in. I think there may be some truth in these reports because it ties in with the other reports we've seen lately as well. Ridiculous. Hope to god we don't sign fellaini as well, it wouldn't bode well for how we're going to play.
 
So in the last month, we rejected Isco because he was "too slow" and now we have rejected Thiago because he wont "fit in the PL".
 
Is it really credible that we were willing to play the clause fee if Moyes didn't think Thiago would be a suitable option? Signing Thiago would barely have been discussed if this were the case. The move wouldn't have even got out of the starting blocks...What a load of rubbish.
 
DixieDean said:
Obviously I have no idea what happened here, but Moyes was pretty hopeless at closing out transfers at Everton.
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Are you trying to allude to the fact that if we had someone other than Moyes aka Mourinho, all these players would come swarming to United.
 
What were Moyes actual quotes?

So Thiago chose Pep + Awesome midfield > Moyes plus ok midfield and he wanted game time. Seems like the pull of a Big Manager rather than a rational decision.
 
SteveJ said:
Is it really credible that we were willing to play the clause fee if Moyes didn't think Thiago would be a suitable option? Signing Thiago would barely have been discussed if this were the case. The move wouldn't have even got out of the starting blocks...What a load of rubbish.
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Nothing about this 'saga' has been credible.
 
Who decides on our targets?

If Moyes said that I am not sure what to make of it.
 
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/bayernmunich/id/1127?cc=5901

Collective nouns, in English, are a quirky - yet strangely poetic - way to classify a group of animals. While most will know a pride of lions, or a gaggle of geese, my favorites tend to be more obscure: An exaltation of larks, a convocation of eagles, an unkindness of ravens, a murder of crows.

I will borrow, here, the collective noun for crows because the alliteration works well. And because Bayern Munich is truly stacked with midfielders. A murder of midfielders.

So, why Thiago Alcantara?

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, only a few days ago, revealed toSport Bild that Pep Guardiola had wanted Neymar to come to Bayern. Eventually, the Catalan coach was talked out of the Brazilian in a meeting in Zurich by Rummenigge referencing the bad luck Bayern had in the past with transferring South Americans (Breno, anyone?) directly to Germany's biggest club. And the weather.

Perhaps under pressure to forge his own Bayern identity, Guardiola recently confirmed that that Barcelona's Thiago Alcantara was on his wish list. "I want Thiago Alcantara, I have asked [Bayern to get him]," he said.

"I know him very, very well. He's a great player and can cover three, four, five positions. [He] is the only player I want, it will be him or no one. We have many players, but we need the special qualities Thiago Alcantara brings."

Hold on. What special qualities does Alcantara bring? And more importantly: At what cost?

Not to say he is without talent; he is, after all, Spain's Under-21 captain. But what, on his resume stands out to challenge the majority of the current Bayern line-up?

In 2011, he extend his Barcelona contract until 2015, but failed to meet the requirements of his 90 million euro buyout clause (organized by his agent Pere Guardiola, (brother of Pep) and father Mazinho (formerly a Brazil international), instead the amount dropping to 18 million euro. A bargain, one might be led to think, noting his perfect hat-trick June 18 against Italy in the European Under-21 Championship final.

OK. So he plays football. Well. Better than most. But why is he so needed in a team full of superstars? You can argue about who has the better midfield 'til the end of all time, but currently Bayern Munich and Barcelona would make top three on anyone's list. And noting the demolition of Barcelona by Bayern in last season's Champions League, Bayern will end up No. 1 for almost all.

Every single midfield position at Bayern has at least two reliable back-ups. More than reliable. If Alcantara is looking for more playing time, what hope does he have in Munich's squad?

Assuming everyone, as of now, is staying. The midfield breaks down like this:

Defensive midfielders: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Javi Martinez, Luiz Gustavo, Toni Kroos, Emre Can, David Alaba.

Right Wing: Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller, Xherdan Shaqiri.

Left Wing: Franck Ribery, Shaqiri, David Alaba.

Central Attacking Midfielder: Mario Goetze, Mueller, Kroos, Ribery, Claudio Pizarro, Schweinsteiger.

An absolute murder of midfielders, right? And this isn't even including the youngsters who may be promoted.

I've left out Shaqiri as a CAM strictly because he's too small to play the position in German football, as evidenced by his run at it last season. And there's a point to be made about height, as well. Alcantara would only be taller than Philipp Lahm, Shaqiri and Rafinha in the Bayern squad.

And in Bundesliga football, size does matter. Some have intimated that Bayern's success last season was more due to brawn than footballing brains. While flashes of brilliance come hard and fast, this is the nature of the way it's done in Deutschland. Beautiful passes come as they may, but one still must muscle their opponent off the ball when the opportunity arises. A slight 5'7" Spaniard might not be up to the task.

Perhaps this is Guardiola just wanting to put his stamp on the team, but to what effect? Moving Javi Martinez back to a spot at centre back that he hated playing at Athletic Bilbao? Forgoing Luiz Gustavo (who would likely be odd-man out)? Toni Kroos? Jerome Boateng?

Pep, at this point, with a Thiago signing, could very well lose the dressing room, with Bayern Munich looking nothing like the Treble-winning team it was a couple of months ago.

In 2011, Thiago said, "I'd be lying if I said my dream is to succeed at Barcelona. My dream is to succeed in football." Perhaps he should agree to terms with Manchester United. They need him much more than Bayern Munich.

While Alcantara may be a boon in the end, to me he's superfluous to Bayern's needs. They've already got a murder of midfielders.
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