RVP had offers from abroad and went to United. Clichy/Nasri/Adebayor/Toure all went to City. If there's any club who can't ever claim they haven't sold to domestic rivals it's Arsenal.
Woodward (old thread)
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RVP had offers from abroad and went to United. Clichy/Nasri/Adebayor/Toure all went to City. If there's any club who can't ever claim they haven't sold to domestic rivals it's Arsenal.
Yet we bid first... So it was Barca monitoring our situation all along?
Are you trying to imply that monitoring his situation would be odd? You don't think United are monitoring the situation of Vidal/Stroortman/Di Maria/Reus/Hummels?
Also I haven't read anything that suggests we made a bid for him first, most claimed we where prepared to better Barca's bid of £10m.
Let's be fair though, if reports are correct that Wenger only would have swapped him with Smalling, it is clear why we pulled out. For Arsenal, it makes sense not to sell to a PL rival. Nothing Ed or LVG can do about it
Wenger confirmed yesterday we made a bid, today Barca have had a bid accepted.
So we were waiting until Van Gaal assessed the squad, then made our move and Barca made their move. Arsenal want to sell to Barca instead of us.
Simple.
When I saw we'd pulled out because they wanted Smalling I wondered how quick some muppets would blame Woodward.
We dodged one hell of a bullet there
Wenger confirmed yesterday that 2 clubs had made a bid.
Mundo Deportivo are putting the Barcelona offer at €19m (about £15m).
We didn't want him enough - even in an auction you've got to have a maximum bid in your head.
This is one you cannot blame Woodward for. Wenger has come out and said they now have the financial clout to rival the big PL teams so really the only way we would have landed him is if nobody else was in for him and he wanted to come to us. Arsenal asking for Smalling was just them taking the piss on the off-chance we would accept it. After Barca made their interest clear there was no chance we would land him for the money we were bidding.
I'm still watchin' this space, Ed.
I agree that when you get to that sort of price you'd be better off spending the extra ££ and just getting in someone top quality and I'm glad we didn't offer more. However a main part of my argument is it would never have gotten to this stage had we moved earlier. Why has it taken until a week before the season kicks off to make a bid for someone when are interest has been well documented for months?
I mean we've lost Rio/Vidic in the same summer and knew both were going yet and it's now 1 week before the season kicks off with no replacements, it's just not good enough and I really don't know how people can be so calm about the situation after what a circus Woodward made of the last window. It's getting to a point were clubs will simply refuse to sell key players because they don't have time to find replacements. Regardless of what happens more signings should have been completed by this point and Woodward is in charge of getting it done.
I think he's gonna be epically exhausted on 1st September... and I bet he's gonna still have time to wrap up sponsorship deal with a pen buttons company.
Correct frankly i don't think we will sign someone this time.
Verm most likely chose to go to Barca and the buck stopped there. Probably just more ''we don't want him anymore'' posturing by the club, similar to Kroos.
Ya blew it Woody boy
Enjoyed that.Can't believe Woodward is getting blamed for losing out on Vermaelan.
A. Wenger obviously didn't want to sell to us.
B. Barca appear to have overpaid. I would have been more annoyed if we'd paid that for him, rather than lost out. You can't say he's failed just because another team has overpaid.
C. Barca have given him a longer contract than we were reportedly (and sensibly) prepared to.
People are saying he has missed out on one of LvG's targets but I doubt LvG wanted Woody to bring him in no matter what the cost.
It's not losing out on him people are annoyed at, it's that he wasted time on it.
This was a transfer that was talked about before the world cup. He had plenty of time to get a feel for this deal and if Arsenal really would sell to us. Asking for a player swap in the same position you are trying to add to is a pretty big clue if you as me.
He has to learn when to quit and know when he's going down a dead end. He needs to wise up and work these things out sooner.
This was a transfer that was talked about before the world cup. He had plenty of time to get a feel for this deal and if Arsenal really would sell to us. Asking for a player swap in the same position you are trying to add to is a pretty big clue if you as me.
He has to learn when to quit and know when he's going down a dead end. He needs to wise up and work these things out sooner.
buy di maria and you're a god again, woody
Feck me, I haven't been in this thread for a while but people are genuinely blaming Woodward for not picking up TV!? They're happy to accept the rumours that we were infact in for him and he was LVGs target but don't accept they wanted Smalling in return or that Arsenal didn't want to see to us again? Mare.
Just seems like more wasted time. If the fans wanted him or not doesn't matter, LvG wanted him and the links started before the WC yet we couldn't get a deal done. There's 2 defenders we know he wanted but wont be getting (Hummels), I wonder how far down the list of options we'll get before completing a deal.
I'm disappointed that we haven't made any more additions a week before we start the new season....
I feel we've been unfortunate with the World Cup followed by a long tour of the US but we really have to get busy in the next week
We are an injury or two away from serious problems at CB and CM
Thankfully our start is relatively kind
I feel we've been unfortunate with the World Cup followed by a long tour of the US but we really have to get busy in the next week
We are an injury or two away from serious problems at CB and CM
Thankfully our start is relatively kind
The problem is that we don't know the specifics. Arsene came out and said they had received bids from more than one club and the very next day a deal has been wrapped up by Barca. It could have been that we had tabled a bid weeks ago but Arsenal were demanding too much and we had already lost interest at which point Arsene simply threw our name back into the melting pot to force Barca to act.
LVG also came out and said he wanted to assess the squad before any potential signings were made and Barca could have come into the deal then whilst we were already in discussions with Arsenal disrupting our deal.
It's all ifs and buts however, IMO, there is more that points to the fact Arsenal didn't want to be labeled a 'selling club' again and sell him to us than there is pointing to Ed's incompetence.
yet another bizarre and frustating summer.
Looking forward to his excuses for this summer, when we inevitably sign no one else of note.
There must be something more on that front. Truly amazing situation when no one from the press is even trying to come up with a solid piece of news or even accurate prediction on United's current actions. I remember there was an informational blackout just before Herrera's signing but that wasn't Louie's target.
Woodward worked on Mata's transfer before and that wasn't a small deal. I can trust him to certain extent. If we'll reach last week of the window maybe then I'll start to worry. So far there's still time to complete deals without panic.
Woodward worked on Mata's transfer before and that wasn't a small deal. I can trust him to certain extent. If we'll reach last week of the window maybe then I'll start to worry. So far there's still time to complete deals without panic.
LVG is going to make numerous decisions about transfers and player positions that may not make sense for many months. If the club is slow to move for particular players or strengthen particular positions, its most likely that LVG doesn't want anyone new to play there.
Hard to blame Woodward for that.
Hard to blame Woodward for that.
Would be laughable on our part.
He won't need any excuses, there are plenty on here willing to make his excuses for him!
Once again we are fumbling around instead of getting on with it. If both Vidal and Vermaalen slip through the net Woodward should be smacked.
Sacked not Smacked!
If he doesn't manage to buy a top tier CM and a CB, Woody should be sacked!
If LVG is having a say and is still mulling things over and in the end might pull out of a transfer then yes, we can't blame woodward. But my main problem with him is that in his interviews, he sounds so confident and pompous that you feel United will buy someone shortly. Watch this space. Meh.
Why give interviews to sound like a jackass and give false hope? He could have kept his mouth shut and done his work behind the scenes.
Why give interviews to sound like a jackass and give false hope? He could have kept his mouth shut and done his work behind the scenes.
Don't see the point of these comments. He clearly won't get sacked no matter how bad he is because his making truck loads of money through sponsors.
Who cares about sponsors if one of Jones, Smalling and Evans get injured and we fail to make top 4?
Moved aside rather than sacked, to let him concentrate on what he's good at - then someone brought in who knows what they're about on the football side of things.
Mind you, that's an additional salary.
It won't make much difference, the best we can hope for is Woodward removed from transfer business and just go back to his old role.
Woodward has been with the Glazers since they arrived so the chances of him getting the sack are zero. Can't disagree with that because we need someone who knows how the transfer market operates.
He bought Mata, Herrera, Shaw, Fellaini, got Januzej and Rooney to sign long term contracts.
It's been well documented that Moyes couldn't make a decision last summer due to lack of scouting, this summer, LVG wanted to see what the squad could do on tour before he bought players, how's it Woodwards fault exactly?
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