I don't buy that, sure they're have been some huge prices, i.e Martinez to Bayern, but then they're has also been some good deals for the buyer, Spurs getting Dembele and Paulinho for £15 & £17 million respectively for example. Now Bayern selling Gustavo for a decent price. The players are there, we just haven't done anything about it.
Which midfielder should Moyes buy ?
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I don't buy that, sure they're have been some huge prices, i.e Martinez to Bayern, but then they're has also been some good deals for the buyer, Spurs getting Dembele and Paulinho for £15 & £17 million respectively for example. Now Bayern selling Gustavo for a decent price. The players are there, we just haven't done anything about it.
I think that's spot on.
Its become such an issue that we seem almost blinded by it, and believe that we must now buy the 'perfect' midfield player to sort it all out. When in actual fact, a couple of good to very good players, who might not be Iniesta/Xavi/Fabregas clones but who are good players in there own right, would do perfectly.
Well Dembele has been covered in other threads, don't really want to get in to that, but tbf esp wth Paulinho you can't really say he's a big missed opportunity yet as one tournament isn't enough for me. Maybe you've seen more of him that I have though. Plus we don't really know if Gustavo is being sold or the price, but I do agree if he is then you'd hope we were thinking about it. The more worrying one is Thiago if it's true that we never made any attempt for him.
The player we are actually looking for is Edward Woodward. No 7 has been reserved for him. He ticks all the boxes cause he has come to football from investment banking !!!
MCarthy from Wigan?
Cabaye is still very much available, and is more the type of player we could use than a Fellaini. Scored 6 goals with 2 assists last season (4 and 9 the season before!) and he's a very good passer, and good defensively.
Would anyone be interested in an attempt for Mascherano? I think he may be available and he is a good DMF. Not my favourite player but we are becoming desperate.
He's very limited in midfield and a cnut, no thanks.
not that desperate
United have never played with a midfielder who's sole job is to be a destroyer. It's a waste of a player in 95% of matches.
For the odd occasion that we do need to man mark someone, Jones has proved to be adequate.
In short, we don't need Mascherano.
And he's a cnut too.
For the odd occasion that we do need to man mark someone, Jones has proved to be adequate.
In short, we don't need Mascherano.
And he's a cnut too.
Good god no. If we could lift Song from Barca I'd be ok with that. What's his situation?
I read on Sky Sports I think that he's said that he'd be willing to leave barca if he weren't needed.
Mascherano and Song? Christ, some of you are a little too desperate no?
Yep, looks like it. Song's pretty decent actually, no need for Mascherano though.
I would take song, think he would suit our style, proven understanding with rvp and can play either the defensive or box to box role.
Another player I'd send off before the match started. Though, oddly enough, he has become less annoying since he moved to Barca. He's competent at his job, but it's a boring job and I really don't want to see him playing for us though.
This. Can't even think of the image of Mascherano wearing United kit. Just horrible.
He'll never come to United after what Fergie said in regards to him a few years ago. And rightly so.
I'd try and get Vidal. With the right offer, maybe Juve would be tempted to sell
Vidal is definitely worth £30-45million. I'd be elated with him being our only signing.
Maybe, but I think it is going to be harder for Moyes to do that than it would have been for SAF. SAF has had years to sort out these midfield issues and chose to ignore them. Moyes has been left without Scholes, and every fecker knowing we are desperate for midfielders. moyes also knows he will not be given as much leeway should we not do well in the league, so a top quality signing is always the best option for significant improvement. How many teams have improved significantly buying 2 decent players, instead of one top one? Martinez is a good case in point, top quality signing turns Bayern from nearly men into the best team in Europe. Yes they bought Dante too, but it was their midfield which made the real difference.
Look at the difference RVP made to us last year. That's one proven, top quality signing making all the difference. I think that is why moyes is looking for that type, rather than buying 2 players who may not improve us enough, which will then surely lead to suggestions that Moyes didn't bring in the right type of quality.
We're not just lacking quality in midfield right now, we're also lacking numbers. We have no cover for Carrick at the moment. Rather than being obsessed with a "marquee signing", we need good squad players to fill the gaps too. I honestly think Fellaini would be a good addition to our midfield, because of he's physical and versatile. Not cheap at 20 odd million, but the truth is we're not likley to find many bargains on good players so late in the transfer window.
Had a rethink and think we should be going for Fellaini, Cabaye, Song and McCarthy if Modric is unavailable. Two of those 4 would be fine. Don't fancy a pure DM like Gustavo again. Box to box and/or playmaker both with decent defensive qualities.
Every name but Modric sounds underwhelming. Especially Mc Carthy he's not ready for United.
We dont need other "fringe" players to make up numbers, we need someone who can lift our midfield to the level of the other top clubs. Vidal or Gündogan are both top quality and so far, we dont seem to be willing to spend top money as shown in the Cesc case
It would be nice if the club weren't still stuck in 2004 where £30m was actually a good fee for a top player.
Naa, I think we were willing to spend good money on Fabregas. But you don't start with your highest bid and Barcelona didn't give us any encouragement to offer more.
I´m at the point where I think any midfielder would do nicely... I am that desperate.
Well in which case, surely their lack of encouragement means you have to test their resolve even more - as opposed to just upping the bid by £5m? Splash £40-£45m on the table and that's something they can't ignore...
Moyes is leaving it very late. Surely this is not what the new management intended on July 1 when things all kicked off. It's going to be a very stressful last few weeks until the window closes, especially with the Rooney situation still unresolved.
feck midfield, Ronaldo will make us forget midfielders even exist.
Couldnt agree with you more..
It's ridiculous isn't it? And, the Rooney situation should have no impact on the fact that we're desperate for a central midfielder (thanks for your comment R Giggs, but you're talking shite about not needing anyone).
Ferguson left Moyes with huge problems to solve, Rooney and a solving the CM dilemma tha Fergie didn´t want to tackle for some reason. But that might be just what Moyes needs to prove to us, that he can solve huge problems.. But it´s for everybody to see that we are crying out for a great midfield maestro.
Thing is, Giggs shouldn't say shit like that. Ok, he shouldn't opine that we NEED a CM, but he shouldn't say that we'll be fine without one.
And for fecksake, if he can't see that his selection in central midfield at his age means that we are shit in that area, then he needs to get his eyes sorted.
Don't get me wrong i wouldn't be against us signing Fellaini and probably one more. The response I gave was an attempt to explain why Moyes was looking for that marquee signing, rather than just picking up a couple of decent midfielders to boost our numbers. However it could easily be argued that we have enough squad players already, what we need is real quality, maybe not a marquee, but at least better than what we have already. When Giggs is still our best option for midfield creativity, and Carrick is the only defensive minded midfielder in the whole squad, that tells it's own story. The likes of Cleverley, Giggs and Ando can provide cover, but we simply have to improve our first team if we want to move forward.
Adding a bit of physicality to Carrick's guile would give us much better protection for the CB's, allowing our attacking players more licence to concentrate on attacking. A 4-2-3-1 looks a good bet for the players we have in my view. But for that we do need a more aggressive, solid and physically imposing player to partner Carrick than Cleverley or Giggs. Martinez would have been perfect, still astonished SAF didn't try and get him, but Fellaini, Gundogan or Bender would still do.
Modric would probably be the best all round singular signing we could make atm. Far better than what we have defensively, and has the composure and confidence to give us that link between midfield and attack. Would tick many boxes, and would probably qualify as a marquee too.
I'd probably take Song at a push. Like a number of players, he was an excellent midfielder before Barca bought him to decorate their bench/"defence". The Arsenal-era Song was enough of a box-to-box player that he could slot in next to Carrick.
But I can't see Barca selling anyone they play at CB when they're already so shit there.
EDIT: Also worth noting that while a pure DM like Gustavo wouldn't solve the first-team deficiency, we badly need someone who can step in when Carrick is injured too. So I'd gladly have him.
Bring Ronaldo back and back him with Cabaye and Felliani. Sell Ando and Rooney if needs be. Carrick-Cabaye-Felliani will create a great protective screen in midfield and will allow RVP-Ronaldo-Nani to create havoc in our opponent's defense.
Very true, it worked on SAF! It was so effective he forgot they existed long after Ronnie had gone......! 
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