"This fella would start at CM for us!" - The World Cup "scouting" thread

NoPace

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I'll start. Feel free to include players you're impressed with but don't think would ever be United quality, though I'll start with one that might make some sense for us as a squaddie:

Obviously people are all about the Dutch today, but I just watched Chile-Australia and I thought Charles Aranguiz looked like a talented all-around CM playing there for Chile today. Quick, aggressive and good short passing. 25 years old. Just went to Internacional this year after going 11 for 24 for Universidad De Chile. If Van Gaal doesn't like Cleverley or Fellaini we really will need at least 3 CM's, and they won't all cost 30 million.
 
Hector herrera is quite good. Plays for porto 23 and could be an alternative to strootman
 
I've watched Crotia-Brazil and Holland-Spain

Every CM so far could improve United's midfield. Daley Blind, playing left back, could probably be useful for United. The only CMs that don't look up for the job from that viewing are Busquets and Xavi

De Guzman looked out of his depth in the majority of the first half, but he really settled after the penalty. Had a couple nice dribbles in the middle too, though he was more steady then spectacular.
 
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Hector Herrera looked good, he was linked to us before he moved to Porto. I'd imagine he has an enormous buyout clause in his contract though.
 
Wittmann45 said:
Yep, no doubt about that. Porto knows how and when to sell. Hulk for 40 million is unbelievable business
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No doubt. How much did James Rodriguez go for again? Around 37M I think.
 
NMF said:
No doubt. How much did James Rodriguez go for again? Around 37M I think.
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Something like that, combined 70 million euros for him and Moutinho. Pretty sure United was linked with both players. Could be real interest, could be a nice way to add a couple million to the fee maybe

Plus they even managed to swindle 15 million euros out of Chelsea for Villas Boas

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I actually wouldn't mind seeing what LVG can get out of Fellaini. Am I mad? The Dutch played with De Guzman and De Jong today, both quite limited. At least see how he does for Belgium.
 
I really like Rakitic even back at his Schalke days when he was shifted to CM/DM he looked already really good and he has even improved a lot. Shame Barca snatched him up to be a bench warmer and backup for Busquets now I feel he could have been a starter for us without problems.
 
NoLogo said:
I really like Rakitic even back at his Schalke days when he was shifted to CM/DM he looked already really good and he has even improved a lot. Shame Barca snatched him up to be a bench warmer and backup for Busquets now I feel he could have been a starter for us without problems.
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I'm pretty sure his going to be a starter.
 
NMF said:
I'm pretty sure his going to be a starter.
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The problem is that they need a replacement for Xavi, they had this player in Thiago but decided to sell him. Fabregas couldn't really replace Xavi and Rakitic won't be either. Busquets got long viewed as Xavi replacement but imo he is more of a Carrick type of player as is Rakitic. Both don't really match Xavi's creative output when he was at his best but are better defensively. Which means in the end Xavi will still have to start most games for them if they want to maintain his creative output which means to fit in Rakitic they will either have to shift Iniesta out wide left again which leaves them with the problem of missing their most attacking outlet in their midfield three.

I'm also not quite sure Rakitic is the best player to fit into Barca's football philosophy and think he will have similar problems adapting like all the other midfielders they brought in from other clubs so far.
 
mata10 said:
Hector herrera is quite good. Plays for porto 23 and could be an alternative to strootman
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We was linked with him a lot last summer before he moved to Porto. We'd get fleeced dry if we went for him now. I see him as a Fletcher type of player, he won't turn out to be world class but he won't anywhere near average.
 
Daley Blind looked like a quality player today. Not flashy, but a neat and tidy player.
 
i thinks its quite telling that we have no central midfielders at the world cup bar fellaini. its something that will never stop annoying me until we rectify it. theres probably 30 or more midfielders at the tournament better than what we have.
 
ghagua said:
Daley Blind looked like a quality player today. Not flashy, but a neat and tidy player.
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He can play left back and midfield so no need to spend all that money on Schweinsteiger or Shaw. He's a one-man transfer window.
 
NoLogo said:
The problem is that they need a replacement for Xavi, they had this player in Thiago but decided to sell him. Fabregas couldn't really replace Xavi and Rakitic won't be either. Busquets got long viewed as Xavi replacement but imo he is more of a Carrick type of player as is Rakitic. Both don't really match Xavi's creative output when he was at his best but are better defensively. Which means in the end Xavi will still have to start most games for them if they want to maintain his creative output which means to fit in Rakitic they will either have to shift Iniesta out wide left again which leaves them with the problem of missing their most attacking outlet in their midfield three.

I'm also not quite sure Rakitic is the best player to fit into Barca's football philosophy and think he will have similar problems adapting like all the other midfielders they brought in from other clubs so far.
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You assume that they'll keep on playing the exact same way but that's not certain. There's been many rumors that Luis Enrique plans to alter their playing style and make them more direct. I don't think they need a like-for-like replacement for Xavi in that case. Also, he's more likely to leave in the summer than be a starter next season, imo.
 
I was impressed with Aranguiz too. Stood out, particularly in the first half, in a game where Vidal obviously wasn't at his imperious fully-fit best.

NMF said:
I'm pretty sure his going to be a starter.
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He's obviously now a direct Fabregas replacement. Very similar style of play and range of positions - CM, AM, WAM. So he'll probably inherit Cesc's mix of starts and games off the bench.
 
Rakitic looked very good. Excellent passer and kicked lumps out of the Brazilians when he could as well. Basically he played like Scholes.
 
TwoSheds said:
Rakitic looked very good. Excellent passer and kicked lumps out of the Brazilians when he could as well. Basically he played like Scholes.
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Gone Barca though.

Bruno Martins Indi looked very good yesterday, no doubt Spain never really troubled him but he still looked solid. We've been linked with him alot since Van Gaal took over.
 
Herrera looked good. Although, that was really only the second time I paid attention to him. The first was the friendly against Portugal where he did well in a 1-0 loss. Depending on where he plays, look out for Pjanic against Argentina (tomorrow I think?). He's great.
 
Anybody else feel like Feghouli has everything you need to make it as a central midfielder, even though he doesn't really play there?

Now that Valencia have a rich owner, it won't happen for cheap enough to be worth it, but in a classic Dutch 4-3-3, I could see him as one of the two more attacking central mids. Good energy, ball control, passing and a thick, squarish physique that you'd think would serve him well in the middle of things.
 
I think both the DM's from Colombia, Sanchez and Aguilar, have looked pretty good and while Pjanic is clearly the star I was impressed with Besic for Bosnia. I'll also add Witsel, he's got the engine and technique in midfield that would benefit us greatly.
 
Herrera, Witsel and Pjanic are three players - not on the top tier of midfielders - that have stood out. Less illustrious midfielders like Aranguiz, Besic and Die have all impressed too.
 
Glanville95 said:
Herrera, Witsel and Pjanic are three players - not on the top tier of midfielders - that have stood out. Less illustrious midfielders like Aranguiz, Besic and Die have all impressed too.
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I was impressed with Besic as well. Mobile, aggressive and comfortable on the ball. Seems like a good signing for a couple million for a mid-table German team looking for energy and tackling in the middle.

Pjanic is probably a top tier midfielder at this point. Would cost around 30, I figure. He's just turned 24, which as a creative CM without power means he's probably not even at his peak yet. Modric just has his best season at 28, and I would expect something similar from Pjanic. I was hoping we'd get Rudi Garcia, whose record is basically blemish-free as our manager and he'd bring him and/or Strootman over to deal with our CM issue.

Feghouli with some lovely carrying of the ball and then a clever 1-2 with Brahmi for the Algerian 4th.
 
NoPace said:
Anybody else feel like Feghouli has everything you need to make it as a central midfielder, even though he doesn't really play there?

Now that Valencia have a rich owner, it won't happen for cheap enough to be worth it, but in a classic Dutch 4-3-3, I could see him as one of the two more attacking central mids. Good energy, ball control, passing and a thick, squarish physique that you'd think would serve him well in the middle of things.
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I like him. Not sure he's been consistent enough at Valencia though. Brilliant on his day.
 
ShinjiNinja26 said:
Andre Ayew looked good last night.

EDIT: Didn't realize he was a no.10.
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He is not, he is cm normally but have been played in numerous positions, 10, winger, outside midfielder.
 
JPRouve said:
He is not, he is cm normally but have been played in numerous positions, 10, winger, outside midfielder.
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Ah okay, I wasn't sure when I initially mentioned him so I had a quick check on Wikipedia and it said he was a no.10/winger, should've known better than to trust Wiki lol.

Anyway, he certainly looked good last night, Can't say I've seen much of him whats he like in the French league??
 
Besic and pjanic obviously from Bosnia. Besic already one of our most important players along with Kolasinac despite only playing a handful of games for us.

Besic though will be a bargain for whoever. Will almost definitely be less then £3million and is very good defensively and mobile, something we really lack. Also he's very capable on the ball, only misplacing 1 pass in the whole game against Argentina. Think he'd do really well at a premier league team or bundesliga team, so I hope he comes somewhere in the prem.

Pjanic of course is in my opinion one of the best creative midfielders out there. He's brilliant.
 
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