Van Wolfswinkel

wr8_utd

Ripped :'(
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
39,252
Skysports
Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan has admitted the club are keeping tabs on Sporting Lisbon striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel.

United have been linked with a move for the Dutchman after catching the eye at Sporting this season.

The 22-year-old, who joined Sporting from Utrecht in the summer, has scored six goals in his last six games to alert clubs from all across Europe.

A host of clubs were credited with an interest in Van Wolfswinkel prior to his move to Sporting and United No.2 Phelan has revealed they are long-term admirers of the Dutch international.

"We have obviously known Van Wolfswinkel for a long time," Phelan told Portuguese newspaper Record. "He is a young striker, very talented, who has been growing in the last few seasons.

"A club like Manchester United carefully follow many players all over the world."

Couldn't find a thread on him..
 
Class name, but I'm not sure why we'd need anymore centre-forwards. Looks a bit of non-story to me, Phelan was probably asked about him considering his form and was like yeah we follow loads of players all over the world and they've hashed this article out if it.
 
Class name, but I'm not sure why we'd need anymore centre-forwards. Looks a bit of non-story to me, Phelan was probably asked about him considering his form and was like yeah we follow loads of players all over the world and they've hashed this article out if it.

Would be worth it just for the name :lol:

But with Berba and Owen probably off next season you never know.
 
If Berbatov leaves at the end of the season then a move for him could be possible
 
If Berbatov leaves at the end of the season then a move for him could be possible

It would take more than just Berbatov leaving I would imagine. We'd need Owen and one of Macheda/Diouf to leave or go on loan as well. We're already stacked in the striking department.
 
Well Will Keane's being talked up a lot by the coaching staff too, I'd imagine having Van Wolfswinkel would impinge on his development when the time arises.
 
If this happens, it will only be if Berbatov moves on at the end of the season.
 
Remember, a few years back we admitted to following a bunch of players in the portuguese league, none of which we went on to sign (as this was after Anderson and Nani). I think its one of the leagues we pay more attention to and we look at a lot of players but its not like we sign all the good talents.
 
This is no surprise. Top clubs keeps tabs on very hot prospect out there. Does not mean there is interest to sign him. Im sure that lesser known players than this guy are being followed
 
Headline writers all over will be creaming themselves if this happen.

Rip Van Wolfswinkel : Ricky tears Liverpool apart
 
Phelan knows City want him. He makes these comments in the media. Price goes up.
 
He'd fit into the Werewolf threads, that's for sure.

I'm quite happy with what we got in the forward department. It's a fantastic mix of experience, pace and power. Will be interesting to see which route we go down in 2-3 years, if Berba and Owen are not around. Do we bring through youth or go for experienced and seasoned strikers?
 
I think if Berbatov and Owen leave next year, then we need some more experience up front.
 
Just out of curiousity, can anyone remember a time when we've admitted to watching/keeping track of a player and then went on to sign him? Or when a player or his agent have come out and said that we're watching/in contact with them and we have gone on to sign them?

I think we tend to keep our eventual business behind the scenes and perhaps only talk about players we like and respect but dont have any real interest in signing. Like when we talked about watching the players in the portuguese league like Veloso. The letter that was sent to Defour and so on.
 
Berbatov and De gea are the only ones I can think of Ekeke

Did we actually say we were watching Berbatov then? I know Berbatov spoke about us wanting to sign him when he went to Tottenham, and then others had spoke about us trying to sign him the next summer. But did any of our people say we were watching him?

Good call on De Gea, I had forgotten about that.
 
Did we actually say we were watching Berbatov then? I know Berbatov spoke about us wanting to sign him when he went to Tottenham, and then others had spoke about us trying to sign him the next summer. But did any of our people say we were watching him?

Good call on De Gea, I had forgotten about that.
Berbatov we actually did watch him when he was at Leverkusen but that was more of a case of us looking to replace Ruud than monitoring for a while to be fair. De gea though is the stone cold one.
 
Berbatov we actually did watch him when he was at Leverkusen but that was more of a case of us looking to replace Ruud than monitoring for a while to be fair. De gea though is the stone cold one.

Makes sense, but perhaps my question wasnt clear enough initially. I know we've signed players where we've had our scouts spotted before etc. But I'm talking about when Sir Alex, Phelan or CQ or someone from the club at the time has actively engaged in a conversation about a player, or the slightly weird circumstance of us sending a letter to Defour when he got injured.

Just something beyond having our scouts spotted there, like with these comments about Van Wolfswinkel. My thinking is that we would be willing to talk about players we respect but arent intending to sign. But if we were going to go through with a transfer we'd work to keep it as hush hush as possible and obviously not go on record with comments and gestures because obviously then other clubs are suddenly interested and the price hikes.

With De Gea I believe our keeping coach spoke about him(?) then someone said we were signing him (SAF?) and then we signed him. If so, that would be one case of what I'm talking about. But other than that I feel like we're going to talk about players we arent going to sign
 
I think with de Gea, Ferguson only confirmed our 'interest' because a deal had practically been done, or already had been done.
 
Did the club not first mention him in the summer, when, I'd imagine, the deal was almost wrapped up? Or was their an occasion before the summer past we mentioned him?

He confirmed our interest in him after Gary Neville's testimonial, in late May.
 
Ricky van Wolfswinkel's agent has denied having any contact with Manchester United.

The 22-year-old Dutch international only joined Sporting Lisbon from Utrecht this summer.

But the highly-rated forward has followed this up with four goals in four starts for the Portuguese giants.

Manchester United are now reported to be one of those keeping close tabs on him.

But his agent Louis Laros insists there has been no contact with any clubs.

"Ricky is very well in Sporting and very happy with the club, the city and the supporters," Laros told Abola.

"For him everything is perfect, for me not it is not a suprise this rumour but I have not spoken with anybody.

"It is normal the kid is linked with other clubs because people watch the Portuguese Liga and as always club scouts check on the best men and today Ricky is one of the best forwards."