Thomas Vermaelen

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ravi2 said:
Personally I was hoping for Hummels or Benetia as well but if LVG rates him, then he's good enough for me
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With Vermaelen the transfers for CB are over

Evans
Jones
Smalling
Vermaelen

I don't think this year we'll sign other CBs, considering that we are in only in the Premier League

I think the other competitors have better players there

Chelsea:
Ivanovic
Terry
Cahill
Varane (probably)

City have better players, probably even Liverpool and maybe Arsenal

With Chelsea a million year ahead all
 
::sonny:: said:
With Vermaelen the transfers for CB are over

Evans
Jones
Smalling
Vermaelen

I don't think this year we'll sign other CBs, considering that we are in only in the Premier League

I think the other competitors have better players there

Chelsea:
Ivanovic
Terry
Cahill
Varane (probably)

City have better players, probably even Liverpool and maybe Arsenal

With Chelsea a million year ahead all
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Huh?
 
It would be hilarious if this was our first signing given the seemingly relentless bombardment of media links for almost every really good player in the world and our mighty war chest.
 
I think it makes sense he's 28 can play CB or LB wouldn't be a huge price and is the type of ball playing CB that LVG likes. He's looked suspect defensively with Arsenal but Koscielny looked like a trainwreck at times over the past few years as well and he's now one of the best in the league.
 
Don't know why so many on here are upset with this one. It's been stated by many that just having LVG alone guarantees United a top 4 finish, so even if Vermaelen is an injury crock it's certainly not going to jeopardize that.
 
Cina said:
It would be hilarious if this was our first signing given the seemingly relentless bombardment of media links for almost every really good player in the world and our mighty war chest.
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If he is our first signing, which I'd hoped would be a signing of intent, I'll have lost a lot of hope for this summer window. Talk about being brought back down to earth..
 
Lane said:
If you are talking about Munich's CBs, you need to check your facts. Badstuber hardly played at all in the last two years while being injured. And that's not just another one injury, that the kind of injury that Bayern were pretty much sure he is not going to be involved much in 13-14 well beforehand. Martinez is a DM, can be used as a CB in similar manner to Carrick. While you actually forgot Van Buyten. So the Bayern is set up in exactly the way i described. One solid pair: Dante and Boateng. That play like 80% of the time. Then one cover that is somewaht worse in this position in Martinez and Van Buyten that is a old experienced deep cover that content to play 10-12 games a season. Something Jones, Smalling and Evans would not be open to really.
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Dante is class.
Martinez is class, even as cb.
Badstuber got back from his injury, no?
Boateng is class.

You got me under the impression that no team has 4 quality central defender options, while bayern certainly do. And they are looking for a 5th if rumors are to believe.
Also, Dante and Boateng was there while Badstuber wasn't injured.

Badstuber being injured for two years doesn't disqualify his quality.

Now if that wasn't your point then that is fair, i couldn't be arsed to go through all the pages to get a good view on the discussion bar the impression i got, so that would be my fault.
 
This place baffles me sometimes. Apart from injury concerns (and to be fair being part of the arsenal squad increases your chances of being injured anyway), he'd be a very very good buy for 10m or under.

Every arse fan I know, and unfortunately I work with quite a few rate him as their best defender, the problem for him is just how much per and Koscielney clicked as a pairing making them better than the sum or their parts.

He's a very good defender. Id prefer hummels obv but that was never going to happen.

Would be good signing, he'd instantly be our best defender
 
::sonny:: said:
With Vermaelen the transfers for CB are over

Evans
Jones
Smalling
Vermaelen

I don't think this year we'll sign other CBs, considering that we are in only in the Premier League

I think the other competitors have better players there

Chelsea:
Ivanovic
Terry
Cahill
Varane (probably)

City have better players, probably even Liverpool and maybe Arsenal

With Chelsea a million year ahead all
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I'm happy with our options. Evans will be Van Gaals favourite without question. Its also the right time for Jones to play week in week out at CB instead of moving him around everywhere. Smalling is also at a good stage in his career to stake a claim. Vermaelen would add to the squad depth and he can also cover at left back when needed.
 
My old man told me that two bids have been made with the second one in the region of £14m.

Whether he'll be our player or not totally depends on Arsene Wenger. Selling two consecutive captains to United may be seen as a sign of weakness.

I personally think it's a big amount for a defender in his last year contract, one also who's has had two bad seasons.
 
As long as he stays fit he'll be a good signing. The only thing that worries me is all of our center backs are injury prone. We didn't need a world class option, we just needed an experienced guy who will stay fit. Here's hoping they step up.
 
Do not want, but if LvG wants him, then fine! We have made much worse and at the same time much more expensive and needless transfers in the past.

And 100 k wages are not much, he will probably already be on high wages at Arsenal and if we are willing to pay Shaw 100 k, then why not someone who is 10 years older and more experienced? Sagna will reportedly earn 150 k at City.

Anyway, I would prefer a better defender but I completely trust LvG and the fee is OKish.
 
CurryCantona said:
My old man told me that two bids have been made with the second one in the region of £14m.

Whether he'll be our player or not totally depends on Arsene Wenger. Selling two consecutive captains to United may be seen as a sign of weakness.

I personally think it's a big amount for a defender in his last year contract, one also who's has had two bad seasons.
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Add to that turning down Fabregas and Sagna joining City. The knives will be out for Wenger, big time, if either of those two have a really good season. I'm sure he'd be more than a little reluctant to have a Vermaelen at United in the mix too, especially with RvP certain to be the main man for Van Gaal. Could make life reallly unpleasant for himself if Ozil/Arsenal have a wobble early on.
 
Dracula said:
Every arse fan I know, and unfortunately I work with quite a few rate him as their best defender, the problem for him is just how much per and Koscielney clicked as a pairing making them better than the sum or their parts.
Would be good signing, he'd instantly be our best defender
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He's mid-table, no Arsenal fan rates him as our best defender.
 
MrEriksen said:
Dante is class.
Martinez is class, even as cb.
Badstuber got back from his injury, no?
Boateng is class.

You got me under the impression that no team has 4 quality central defender options, while bayern certainly do. And they are looking for a 5th if rumors are to believe.
Also, Dante and Boateng was there while Badstuber wasn't injured.

Badstuber being injured for two years doesn't disqualify his quality.

Now if that wasn't your point then that is fair, i couldn't be arsed to go through all the pages to get a good view on the discussion bar the impression i got, so that would be my fault.
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Martinez, Dante, Boateng - that's three. Badstuber is not class whether he is back from the injury or not. Being injured for two years disqualify anyone's quality. Also Martinez is not class as a CB. He would be able to play as a CB in any non-"spanish" top team. Guardiola specific tactics allow him to play as a CB. But Martinez will always remain is a makeshift CB, he will not be considered as a main CB. And even in Bayern he played more matches as a DM.
And if rumors to be believed Munich wants to offload Badstuber, Van Buyten is off and Martinez would not want to play as a CB, so team needs a third real CB to cover in the first team.
 
Can we just get him signed already... So people on here can moan about our next target. He really would be a signing. We only ever needed an experienced centre half. Everyone's opinion will change after he has a good game for belguim.
 
Lane said:
Martinez, Dante, Boateng - that's three. Badstuber is not class whether he is back from the injury or not. Being injured for two years disqualify anyone's quality. Also Martinez is not class as a CB. He would be able to play as a CB in any non-"spanish" top team. Guardiola specific tactics allow him to play as a CB. But Martinez will always remain is a makeshift CB, he will not be considered as a main CB. And even in Bayern he played more matches as a DM.
And if rumors to be believed Munich wants to offload Badstuber, Van Buyten is off and Martinez would not want to play as a CB, so team needs a third real CB to cover in the first team.
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We disagree then, fair enough. :)
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Add to that turning down Fabregas and Sagna joining City. The knives will be out for Wenger, big time, if either of those two have a really good season. I'm sure he'd be more than a little reluctant to have a Vermaelen at United in the mix too, especially with RvP certain to be the main man for Van Gaal. Could make life reallly unpleasant for himself if Ozil/Arsenal have a wobble early on.
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I don't know what's the big deal in Wenger turning down Fabregas...I really don't. He isn't running a charity nor a sentimental school, he obviously didn't see a need for him and said no. He's moved on and rebuilt his squad after Cesc left them in 2011, why should be take him back if there's truly no need for him and when they have more urgent needs to address in the transfer market like a GK, DM, CB and ST.

Edit: And Sagna's contract was up and he didn't resign because he got a better offer at City. Sometimes we as fans need to realize that these players are under no obligation to do anything.
 
I don't get why people think Vermaelen will "add to our squad depth". If he comes it's to be one of our first choice defenders, especially if we're paying him 100k.

I don't get "we don't need to sign world class CB" either. We currently have no world class defenders, surely a side with our ambitions should have at least one? We very much need a top class CB imo.

I certainly don't get "everyone will rate him once he has a good game for Belgium". They might but they really shouldn't. We've seen plenty of him over the last few seasons, anyone who changes their opinion of him based on one game is a moron.

In many ways Vermaelen fits as a signing. Left footed, background in Dutch football, experienced, good on the ball, PL proven. Problem is he simply isn't good enough. No amount of a positive outlook or trust in LVG will change that. We know he isn't good enough to be a first choice defender for a team with aspirations towards the title, if any of our rivals signed him for that purpose we'd (rightly) say it was an odd signing.
 
Il Prete Rosso said:
I don't know what's the big deal in Wenger turning down Fabregas...I really don't. He isn't running a charity nor a sentimental school, he obviously didn't see a need for him and said no. He's moved on and rebuilt his squad after Cesc left them in 2011, why should be take him back if there's truly no need for him and when they have more urgent needs to address in the transfer market like a GK, DM, CB and ST.

Edit: And Sagna's contract was up and he didn't resign because he got a better offer at City. Sometimes we as fans need to realize that these players are under no obligation to do anything.
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It's out in the open now that Wenger turned down Fabregas because of Ozil, a player with doubts hanging over him. Wenger has to back his judgement but it's definitely raised the stakes for all the gooners who are still a little unsure whether or not Wenger had had his day. Fabregas is a world class player who Arsenal fans used to idolise. Failing to find a place for him is definitely risking a backlash, especially if he helps Chelsea maintain their dominance Arsenal.

Re Sagna, any good player that runs his contract down reflects poorly on the manager and his ability to retain his best players. Which is already something that Wenger's detractors use against him.
 
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So this transfer is really happening?

Edit: as i post that, Hummels is subbed off with a knee injury :nervous:
 
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Wow,this is underwhelming stuff. I doubt he'd be coming to sit on the bench, and he's not of the quality we should be looking for in players that are bought for our starting eleven.

Pena only hope that this is, as someone pointed out, a stroke of Van Gaal genius. But it says a lot about our current standing that we're picking up Arsenal's back-ups as our first signing after continually going on about how we have the cash to add whatever quality's necessary to compete again.

It feels like we're turning into the new Arsenal, less their magnificent 4th place trophy haul.
 
I am fully behind LvG. If he thinks it's a good signing then I'm happy.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It's out in the open now that Wenger turned down Fabregas because of Ozil, a player with doubts hanging over him. Wenger has to back his judgement but it's definitely raised the stakes for all the gooners who are still a little unsure whether or not Wenger had had his day. Fabregas is a world class player who Arsenal fans used to idolise. Failing to find a place for him is definitely risking a backlash, especially if he helps Chelsea maintain their dominance Arsenal.

Re Sagna, any good player that runs his contract down reflects poorly on the manager and his ability to retain his best players. Which is already something that Wenger's detractors use against him.
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You're looking at it from a pure sentimental perspective there. Maybe you can make an argument for strength in depth but he just paid 42.5 million on a player he intends to use in Cesc's position. That being said, he's under no obligation to take him back after Cesc made it clear in 2011 he wanted to leave.

Sagna:

To me that's a load of horseshit. Sagna was offered a contract extension since 2012 and he refused it. RVP was offered once since 2011 and he refused it. It didn't mean the club wasn't willing to keep the player...the player chose to NOT sign a new contract extension. If you're offered a higher wage elsewhere you're under no obligation to extend your current contract unless you're doing it for pure footballing reasons. At the end of the day, most of the players that left Wenger all got higher wages so it's a nonsense argument that Wenger didn't at least try to keep his players.
 
Jed I. Knight said:
Wow,this is underwhelming stuff. I doubt he'd be coming to sit on the bench, and he's not of the quality we should be looking for in players that are bought for our starting eleven.

Pena only hope that this is, as someone pointed out, a stroke of Van Gaal genius. But it says a lot about our current standing that we're picking up Arsenal's back-ups as our first signing after continually going on about how we have the cash to add whatever quality's necessary to compete again.

It feels like we're turning into the new Arsenal, less their magnificent 4th place trophy haul.
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Calm down calm down.... We was never going to blow silly money on a CENTER BACK. Which in all honesty we would have had too for the type of player we wanted. Vermaelen gives the experience whilst we cross our fingers Jones and Smalling turn out to be world class which was always the initial thinking.
 
Jed I. Knight said:
Wow,this is underwhelming stuff. I doubt he'd be coming to sit on the bench, and he's not of the quality we should be looking for in players that are bought for our starting eleven.

Pena only hope that this is, as someone pointed out, a stroke of Van Gaal genius. But it says a lot about our current standing that we're picking up Arsenal's back-ups as our first signing after continually going on about how we have the cash to add whatever quality's necessary to compete again.

It feels like we're turning into the new Arsenal, less their magnificent 4th place trophy haul.
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Football doesn't work like that. A player can be piss poor in a system and flourish in another. In addition, top defenders in Europe aren't going to be readily available on the transfer market unless you're willing to pay over the top for them.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Add to that turning down Fabregas and Sagna joining City. The knives will be out for Wenger, big time, if either of those two have a really good season. I'm sure he'd be more than a little reluctant to have a Vermaelen at United in the mix too, especially with RvP certain to be the main man for Van Gaal. Could make life reallly unpleasant for himself if Ozil/Arsenal have a wobble early on.
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Only from stupid journos trying to stir shit up.
 
Mainoldo said:
Calm down calm down.... We was never going to blow silly money on a CENTER BACK. Which in all honesty we would have had too for the type of player we wanted. Vermaelen gives the experience whilst we cross our fingers Jones and Smalling turn out to be world class which was always the initial thinking.
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Why wouldn't we spend big money on a CB? Not like we haven't done it before and it's certainly an area that needs strengthening. More to the point, we supposedly have 200m to spend on the very best etc etc. Now that kind of spend always seemed near impossible but talking our spending power up does give us license to criticise the club for pursuing more "value" signings.

Plus, even if we accept that we weren't going to spend big money on a CB, that still doesn't mean Vermaelen is the right choice. He's already proven that he isn't the standard we need, surely somewhere across Europe there's better candidate?

If we sign him we're basically hoping LVG can resurrect his career to the point where he reaches a level of performance he hasn't come close to in years. It's a punt, basically, and not a particularly promising one.
 
I'm not in favour of this signing but JTS kinda hypocritical how the signing of Lambert was heralded as pretty good by majority here and yet this deal isn't.
 
An average defender who is also a crock to add to the 3 crocks we already have, utterly bizarre signing if it happens, Carrick better get ready to play some games at CB next season.
 
KM said:
I'm not in favour of this signing but JTS kinda hypocritical how the signing of Lambert was heralded as pretty good by majority here and yet this deal isn't.
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The difference for me is that Liverpool were looking for a decent player to add depth to their squad, so Lambert fit the bill. We're looking for a quality player to come in and nail down a first team place, so Vermaelen doesn't fit the bill.

If we were just needed Vermaelen to add depth to our squad then nobody would really mind. Similarly, if Liverpool needed Lambert to go straight into their first team as a key player then everyone would think it was a seriously underwhelming buy.
 
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