Originally posted by Gazza:
<strong>Face it - the deal was most probably dead when Forlan signed. United are likely to keep hold of Yorke till the end of the season, by which time the new manager will be installed and ready to spend on a younger striker with a bigger budget. Yorke will then leave for a cut-price £6 million imo. United were never going to sell two strikers still very much involved in the first team halfway through the season, it would be too much of a gamble. Forlan has not played a minute of football outside South America so it would have been suicide selling the two players to drop back who know the English game. One would have left – Andy Cole – but not two. With the countdown clock ticking down on Fergie’s reign, the board are not going to buy two more strikers imo, and Forlan was probably the better choice for the long-term goals. I am sure Ferguson knows what he is doing, and if that means not getting Di Canio, so be it. I would rather we had gotten Di Canio, but the board were obviously not willing to pay West Ham’s asking price for a 33-year-old. If United really wanted Di Canio so much they would surely have been able to push the deal through – the reason for the deal not being completed is most likely because the board didn’t want to pay £4 million for a player in the mid thirties, not because of ‘bad negotiation’ skills.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I humbly disagree. I believe Yorke is a greater risk than Di Cannio on current form. Maybe the stumbling block is that United refuse to give him a contract for 2 years because of his age. Remember that this was the same stumbling block for Sheringham leaving?
