Watching Vidal tonight made me wish we'd went in for him when he was going cheap, sure he's a bit hot headed but he's a great all rounder who'd add bite and drive to our midfield.
Which midfielder will we sign this summer?
- Thread starter pocco
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How has Modric got a mention? He's only just moved to Madrid, is it going that badly for him? I don't think he's anything special personally and I'd like to think we can find someone better.
Slightly off the topic but I still think we should go for Sanchez if Barca do sell him. He can still be absolutely class at the right club, and goodness knows we're missing a bit of class on our wings now.
I agree about Vidal and should have gone for him, but yesterday he got dominated by Schweinsteiger who ran the game. Tough away game though.
Vidal didn't get dominated by Schweinsteiger at all, he was Juventus' best player by an absolute mile and the only one able to go toe to toe with Bayern.
Schweinsteiger had a good game, albeit an easy one IMO because Juve were so outclassed all over the pitch. It was a team performance from them and Ribery, Muller and especially Mandzukic were all as good as Schweinsteiger.
Definitely....I've been very impressed with him ever since the last World Cup. We must have been in for him before he signed for Barca. We eventually snagged Young who has been a disappointment. Our wide players have underperformed this season, and are failing us again in terms of providing goals when we need them i.e. with Rooney out and Van Persie off form.
He is a classy, hard working player and weighs in with a good amount of goals and assists...plus he is pretty versatile too.
Fitting that this thread was started on the first of the month
Whether he is available probably depends on Jose's future. I highly doubt he will leave but if he isn't starting games then you never know....it's Madrid isn't it? They piss their way through brilliant players like they are going out of fashion.
I would be interested to know who you think we can realistically get who is clearly superior to Modric? He is a terrific little player come on.
Well whoever he's praying to isn't listening.
I'm not sure what the options are, but I'd hope there is better than Modric. He's not really the answer to our problems either creatively or defensively. He does all the inbetween work, where I think we need players that excel at at least one of these things. Preferably even a leader on the pitch.
I don't want to get into arguing how good Modric is again, but lets just say Jose isn't an idiot and if he was that great then he'd play more for Madrid.
Modric would have been a great signing for us, but as I recall, he preferred Chelsea at the time.
Well for me it's the knitting things together that we don't do well enough. Cleverley has a degree of talent but Modric would be a superior partner to Carrick in every way. I don't think we need a leader, we need players who can control games from midfield when the pressure is on. He can help defensively simply by using the ball very effectively, as Carrick does. We need an all-round midfield player and Modric is just that, he can play deeper or further forward with equal effect.
He has had games for Madrid, he just hasn't adapted quite as quickly as Jose would have liked. There are clear signs he is beginning to integrate, it really isn't as simple as saying he hasn't had loads of games therefore he isn't that great. Jose isn't an idiot as you say, he clearly knows what a terrific player he is to have bought him in. You only have to see his impact at Old Trafford to understand how effective he can be.
So if Modric is integrating or at least starting to, why on earth would they sell? Or why would any of the german teams sell Gundogan / Bender / random flavour of the month? Their league is doing well, their teams are financially solvent and all of the those players are under contract. Why would Juve sell Vidal? Why would Barca sell Song?
I would suspect that we'll go premiership (or at least UK league) proven rather than abroad for midfielders if indeed we go for one at all. I still believe that we'll see a very similar (minus perhaps Scholes) midfield unit next year. I think you should all be setting your sights on the likes of Jonathon Williams, Ward-Prowse, Schneiderlin or Will Hughes rather than these fancy exotic names being bandied about. Personally I'd like to see us poach Nat Chalobah from Chelsea, but I can't see him leaving them... even though he won't get a sniff of the first team.
I would suspect that we'll go premiership (or at least UK league) proven rather than abroad for midfielders if indeed we go for one at all. I still believe that we'll see a very similar (minus perhaps Scholes) midfield unit next year. I think you should all be setting your sights on the likes of Jonathon Williams, Ward-Prowse, Schneiderlin or Will Hughes rather than these fancy exotic names being bandied about. Personally I'd like to see us poach Nat Chalobah from Chelsea, but I can't see him leaving them... even though he won't get a sniff of the first team.
Got a gut feeling we'll go for Strootman and my gut is rarely wrong.
Well he was the only one who seemed to have some fight in him and actually was visible compared to his midfield partners Pirlo and Marchisio who were practically non existent.
Schweinsteiger and Gustavo were excellent last night but for Bayern the defensive work begins much higher up the pitch.
Mandzukics defensive work yesterday for example was really, really good so was Müllers and Kroos before that and even Ribery and Robben worked a lot to to stifle Juves midfield.
It's exactly the kind of defensive work that I would love to see from our team more often, this aggressive work against the ball not giving your opponent a second to build up a good attacking move is one of the reasons why Bayern is so strong this season and would help us especially in the big games a lot.
Congratulations with that you have everything needed for a great career as a football "journalist", you should send out some job applications to all the major tabloids in your country.
Yep, agreed. The only realistic option among the German's that keep getting bandied about would be Leverkusen's Bended and even he only if we are willing to pay the price and wants to come which is a doubt in itself as German footballers don't move outside that much in their early 20's.
Other realistic options would be except those you mentioned Mccarthy, Eriksen, Strootman, Moutinho, Wanyama. Maybe Benat if he wants to move and Thiago if he is frustrated at Barca.
And Chalobah amongst all Chelsea's youth players (Not bought ones out on loan) is probably most likely to break through in the first team and get a shot.
One more option which hasn't been mentioned could be Paulinho from Corinthians. Haven't seen much of him but is getting good reviews and in the 4/5 games i've seen has been impressive.
He has a lot of quality. Everytime I see him, he's great. Heart of Corinthians.
One I always I'm a fan is Hernanes, ex São Paulo, and now at Lazio. That is an all rounded very talented player. He would be awesome!
There is no chance of signing Gundogan...he is settled in a very tight Dortmund unit. I highly doubt Modric would be available but as I say it could depend very much on Jose's future. Real Madrid is an unstable environment for players at the best of times. Some players just don't get the time there that they require. Modric has to fight his way past Kaka, Ozil, Alonso, Essien and Khedira for a starting berth. A new manager may want to bring in different players so it is not beyond the realm of possibility.
As for realistic expectations that depends on how Ferguson views his engine room. If he sees it fit for purpose then I would suggest he has a blatant blind spot...more likely he has not really got an idea of who can improve it...strange. Williams is a promising player but we already have Powell. Ward-Prowse isn't the standard we require from young players, Schneiderlin is setting our sights far too low. Will Hughes is a great talent but I expect he will continue his development at Derby for a few more years yet.
It always amazes me how some of our fans think Manchester United has such little appeal to top players in Germany and Italy, and start suggesting we set our sights on guys from Southampton and the Championship. Other than Barca and Real, United are as desirable a destination for top talent as there is in world football.
I agree, Barca is a very unique club to try and settle into, I still think he has a lot to offer and under Fergie could still develop into the player people felt he could become when he was at Udinese.
I don't think he was dominated, he had a good game and was doing it all himself as Pirlo was poor and Marchisio was invisible.
I agree, Barca is a very unique club to try and settle into, I still think he has a lot to offer and under Fergie could still develop into the player people felt he could become when he was at Udinese.
I don't think he was dominated, he had a good game and was doing it all himself as Pirlo was poor and Marchisio was invisible.
Yes
Gut feeling tells me that it will be a long and frustrating summer and we wont get midfielder.
Sure, we're a desirable destination but all of the players being bandied about are under contract. We can't just waltz in, demand that the clubs sell us the players, and waltz back to Manchester with one of the top players in the world. It always amazes me that some of our fans seem to think that there are no other desirable destinations in world football outside of Manchester.
90% of the players being mentioned in this thread are either already at a top club or are at least playing in the champions league. They are under contract and are probably earning bloody good money. Why would they leave? Why would the clubs allow them to leave? Unless they are about to enter the final year of their contract (or are over 28) they have very little power to demand a release from the current club.
Equally Fergie has always always preferred premiership proven players. They then require considerably less adjustment time and are much more able to deal with the spotlight that comes with becoming a Manchester United player.
Some of the players that I talked about, Hughes, Williams, Chalobah, are probably up there with the most talented young British players around that may become available this summer. I'd be bloody surprised if we weren't involved if they did become available. The likes of Schneiderlin I mentioned as he has always been talented and has this year done a bloody good job in an under-performing side. Sound like Valencia to you?
If, as expected, Scholes retires, then we may even see another veteran brought in to replace the experience that we would lose, so I could definitely see Lampard being brought in on a free transfer. It would be classic Fergie. Free transfer, relatively high wages for a year or two but bundles of experience and trophies. Plus he counts towards home grown for premiership and Europe on the squad limits.
We will also see Powell more next year, and maybe Januzaj (although I'm not sure he can play as a centre mid). We might have even have seen Petrucci if his injury curse hadn't struck again. I would also be hugely shocked if he didn't do the "Fletcher will be a new signing" thing. Loyalty is one of Fergie's key attributes. He gives it and demands it in return. Why shouldn't Fletcher get back to his best?
Everything we are hearing on the gossip front is about wingers, central defenders and goalkeepers. That's where I would expect the money to be spent again this summer.
I want a Keano type of fighter in our midfield. This would solve all our problems in midfield, including creativity department.
I second this. Barca style of play is totally the wrong place for him to be. I truly believe he would flourish here.
I reckon we could get all three of Filipe Djuricic (SC Heerenveen), Maxime Gonalons (Lyon) and Granit Xhaka (Monchengladbach) for around £50m. Those three would solve every midfield issue imaginable.
I've heard good stuff about Gonalons, what's he like as a player?
Ie what's his style?
Let's just get Strooty!!!:-)
He has good presence. Does not mind crashing into tackles. He does have a decent range of passing, although not in the class of xabi,carrick,. He likes taking control, also fancies driving runs into the box(but not very frequently). He is exactly the player we need.
He is dutch and left-footed, like RVP and Buttner.
He has good presence. Does not mind crashing into tackles. He does have a decent range of passing, although not in the class of xabi,carrick,. He likes taking control, also fancies driving runs into the box(but not very frequently). He is exactly the player we need.
He is dutch and left-footed, like RVP and Buttner.
Saw him play a few matches after the transfer rumours in January. He's a great player and would partner Carrick very well. Would partner Cleverley well too.
He's definately near the top of my list of potential CMs I'd like to see here.
Why do you only watch 72 minutes of games?
He's a deep midfielder, tall, wiry and tough; similar positional sense as the modern day Carrick – doesn't get forward much though can take a decent set-piece – except unlike Carrick he's hard, likes to tackle rather than intercept and is a natural leader on the pitch.
I like my midfielders like I like my coffee - dark strong and full bodied
Bring me wanyama plus a good passing attacking midfielder
Bring me wanyama plus a good passing attacking midfielder
Yeah, at odds with the thread title, one midfielder isn't going to be enough. Scholes will retire, Anderson is on his way and Fletcher may never come back; we've been very lucky with Carrick staying fit all season this term. We're gonna need minimum two CM players, but ideally three imo; quite a shake-up if it happens, though looking at our transfer dealings over these past five years, joking aside, one seriously has to wonder if we'll replace any midfield personal at all. The odd thing for me is that there's always seemed to be a wealth of appropriate talent available each year; our current options seem so incompatible as to render at least 10% of the central midfielders in professional football as viable upgrades to an extent. I think SAF needs to stop worrying about finding the perfect CM (let's be honest, he hasn't got a good track record here, it's the one area of the pitch that one might reasonably call his weakness) and just buy a couple of bloody good CM's and put them on the job.
Xhaka is struggling in Monchengladbach and although he has talent I really doubt that he is right now good enough to play for us. Don't know anything about Djuric and have barely seen Gonalons playing.
Have we even been linked with them, or it was just a
post?Apparently on Wengers summer shopping list so, let's face it, he's probably class.
Xhaka is struggling in Monchengladbach and although he has talent I really doubt that he is right now good enough to play for us. Don't know anything about Djuric and have barely seen Gonalons playing.
Have we even been linked with them, or it was just a
Was this a
post? You can't rule them out on the strength of your never having seen them play. I'm not stating that we'll sign these three midfielders; just that imo they'd be good editions to the squad who're both available and relatively inexpensive. I don't see how it matters whether we've been "linked' with them or not; do you think SAF limits his options to players the tabloids have written stories about?
Top priority should be Vidal/Gundogan/Modric/Verrati, if none are available then Strootman or Wanyama would be good options.
Would love us to go all out and spend 30+ on a top quality cm to partner carrick. Our squad is great, but our first team just needs that little bit of extra star quality. we just need that extra push.
Would love us to go all out and spend 30+ on a top quality cm to partner carrick. Our squad is great, but our first team just needs that little bit of extra star quality. we just need that extra push.