Aug 03
From Pogba to Petrucci – United’s Reputation Is On The Line
Paul Pogba. I’m pretty sure none of us had heard anything about this young starlet before last week. In fairness, I doubt the season ticket holders at his former club Le Harve had even had the chance to comprehend his potential before he was whisked away under a cloud of smoke dosh.
Time to crack open the champagne? Well I doubt our latest signing would be too delirious at the thought as at just 16-years-old, Pogba is two years short of the legal drinking age and he can forget about driving himself to Manchester. The signing of the France U-16’s captain has, rather understandably, been greeted with sheer condemnation from the midfielder’s former employers.
“Le Havre wishes to express its indignation regarding the dealings of Manchester United’s directors,” the French club said in an official statement.
“This foolish act is even more unacceptable because it comes from a club with such stature.”
The statement went on to claim that United were guilty of offering large sums of money to the parents of Pogba in an attempt to persuade their son to opt for a switch to the Theatre of Dreams.
It’s a touchy subject really. On the one part we have acted within UEFA guidelines and simply offered a promising youngster the chance to nurture his talents with the most famous club in the world. At the other end of the spectrum you have the argument claiming that Pogba is just 16-years-old and that he shouldn’t be uprooted from the club of his youth, and indeed his homeland, at such a young age.
I have to say that I can fully comprehend the animosity that has been shown by Le Harve towards our club and board of directors. When this sort of topic comes up I always find myself saying ‘how would we feel if another club did this to us’ and it’s particularly prevalent here. Let’s just say for arguments sake that Real Madrid came in and poached a young Salford lad that was destined for greatness before he had even reached his 17th birthday. I don’t know about you but I’d be furious!
In these situations it’s worth pointing out what would be best for the player himself. As long as he is happy with moving abroad with his family in tow, there is no doubt he will receive the best possible football education in the Carrington environment. If the young lad proves to have the ability there is nothing to suggest that Sir Alex won’t give him a chance in the first team in the next couple of years too. Whether this is an issue of compensation, morals or even both, it really is a subject up for debate at the moment.
I guess the thing that gets me in these sort of transfers are the reports that suggest we slipped a few extra quid in the direction of the respective player’s parents to smooth negotiations. A similar thing happened with Federico Macheda and Davide Petrucci who we acquired as a 16-year-old from Lazio, offering his father a position as a groundsman at the club in an apparent attempt to sweeten the deal. That signing was met with similar outrage by the Italian club and it would seem we could be looking to ‘poach’ again in the future too.
Without concrete facts it’s difficult to point fingers but are you of the opinion that the club’s reputation is being dragged through the mud or are we merely offering potential stars the chance to flourish, acting completely above board in our actions?
Related items from Red Rants:
- Jumping Ahead of Hull and onto Barca
- FIFA shed light on United’s recent transfer activity
- Manchester United Make Two Signings
- Now that he’s no longer barking, it’s time to unleash the Pog-ba
- Episode 30 – CanTheyScore – Man Utd Podcast
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
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Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Matt: The don’t need any signings… they’ve got Lucas Leiva, Brazilian wonderkid!
Selling Alonso is the final piece of the jigsaw!!! It’s their year this year!!!
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liverpool are such a mess under rafa, selling alonso is insane, and any bets he plays johnson at left back next season too, this guy is a clown (rafa) im glad liverpool offered him a 5 year contract, cuz they wont win anything with him in charge, and i think it will be them that slip out of the top 4, not arsenal.
POOS stevie g, he was made for our team, pitty he was so unlucky to being born a scouser!!
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Meanwhile, can’t blame Tevez for not having the necessary footwork to get out of the shower –> Link
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@Red Ranter: Seems he’s no better at controlling a bar of soap than he is with a football. What a slippery character he’s become!
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@Redrich: haha very nice
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BenHibbs who is a writer for ManUtd.com just posted this on his twitter page:
‘Got bad news to report on the injury front tonight. Can’t say anything yet, but there’ll be a story on ManUtd.com at midnight.’
I’m dreading it’s the Hragreaves news we’ve all been fearing….
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@Traverse: I sure hope it’s nothing to do with OH. If so, then I sympathize with him. It must feel like shit to have these setbacks for some one as hungry as Owen. Let’s wait and see though.
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@Matt:
Rafa can’t resist getting his grubby hands on the dough. He’ll buy four shit players with the dosh. Liverpool are fucked with that clown in charge.
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Reals spending is now £1/4 BILLION. Why aren’t the nitwits at UEFA crying about it killing the game and eating it’s young? Oh yeah, because they aren’t English.
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http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={F9E570E6-407E-44BC-800F-4A3110258114}&newsid=6637325&usecache=false&latest
Van Der Saar out for 8 weeks. Broke a finger in the penalty shoot out, has had surgery to fix it. Time for Foster to step up.
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@Traverse: shit man that sux, if its crucial it may force saf’s hand to dip into the market before he wanted to.?
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@Traverse: damn just saw it this is fucked
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@gator: dont worry lads foster will step up
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When I watched EVDS make the save on Pranjic I just knew he hurt his hand. I thought he bruised or hyper extended the finger but I never thought he broke it. It’s just gets worse by the minute. Now we have to start the season with a useless muppet in goal. JEEZ!
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@gator: This will now tell us if Foster is the next GK or not. Probably fairly good timing, considering that Foster is fit and fresh and will have no excuse but to perform to the best of his ability.
If he flunks badly or even fails to impress, January will the time to bring someone else in!!
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@jamie lee:
Also we have PIG as back-up
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Yep, no more excuses, time for foster to shine. If he can get 4 or 5 clean sheets(while making saves) that would be good.
If he doesnt, and we concede everymatch, then its time to tell him goodbye
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Barcelona want Jonny Evans? Fine, give them Evans and we’ll take Ya Ya Toure in return. Evans is great but we are secure at CB and we really need that DMF more than anything.
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@Redrich: Knowing Foster, he’ll probably get injured in the first game.
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@Cyclops-Red: Is that supposed to make us feel good and secure?
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Fuck im a knob. I just saw the day and time so im thinking to myself, FUCK! For the first time in my life, ive forgotten a united match(ive had a lot going on recently), then i realise its midnight
I was bloody panicking!
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@Dan: WOW! That’s so unlike you Dan. I would have thought you were so high on the lad that he’d have to fuck up for two seasons before you jumped off his bandwagon.
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@Grognard: Are we secure at CB? a season long injury to rio, cant we count on an injury prone brown at the back?
Cathcart is good and should have future with us, but he isnt ready like evans was last year.
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@Redrich: I agree. I look at it as the catalyst for Fergie to stop dicking around and make up his mind — give Foster a run; see if he’s up for it. If not, it becomes obvious we’ll need to buy a keeper. If he impresses though, we’d have ourselves a bargain.
In my mind, I think Foster has tailed off a bit since his pre-injury days but giving him an extended run in the Prem will help me really judge his worth.
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@Grognard:
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@Red Ranter: I agree with that last statement, but his CC final performance has shown us that he can still get back to that level. Hopefully its just that he needs a run of games.
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@Grognard: First time in a long time that I disagree with you mate…. we’re far from secure at the CB position. Vidic is injured as of now and rio has long term back issues and brown, well, its brown…..
oh btw…. pool already have a deal in place to replace alonso with aquilani….. i doubt they’ll miss alonso that much
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@samg: Thats transfer bollocks, and besides, we dont know how well he’d settle in england.
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@Traverse: 8 weeks…
That’s about 2 or 3 weeks in the league?
Wait a min I’m just beong lazy…
I’m back.
Here are the matches he’s more or less usre to miss…
Valencia CF H 20:00
09 Aug Community Shield Chelsea A 15:00
16 Aug Barclays Premier League Birmingham H 13:30
19 Aug Barclays Premier League Burnley A 19:45
22 Aug Barclays Premier League Wigan
@samg: O’shea can deputise at CB. He’s not Vidic or Rio, he’s not even Brown or Evans, but on his day he can be as good as Wes and Jonny. And last season he was very sound defensivley, + he’s barely ever injured…
Let’s just hope fergie doesn’t resort to neville at CB, that would be just suicide.
Oh, and Corry Evans apparently can play at CB too…
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Doea Antonio Valencia ever smile?
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@Red Ranter: I just don’t think we can judge one way or the other at this point in time.
his career with United has been a stop-start affair and with the loan deals and the injuries thrown in , his talent remains a complete mystery to me!
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@Dan: Personally I think we have both Brown and O’Shea who can fill the role as well as Cathcart. It’s not that I want to see Evans go but I think we have a greater need for quality in the center of our midfield. I would do the deal only if a central midfielder like Toure was coming the other way.
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@Red Ranter: That’s assuming he doesn’t slip on a banana peel before his first start.
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@samg: I’m not as concerned about the injuries. Yes Rio has a back issue but I think Brown will be fine and O’Shea is a rock. Cathcart also shows great promise. Seriously though, would you turn down a Toure for Evans swap considering how woeful we are in midfield? If we were not to get a central midfielder out of an Evans deal, then I would also say no to a sale.
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Whoooo!! Just got me 3 tickets to the game tonight!!: – )) £15 a go. I can’t wait. Crap news about evds suspect i’d be watching our team lose this evening if foster hasn’t got his game head on. If Barca want Evans then i reckon with their transfer tactics we could get Yaya and a few mill to boot. If Jose can do it then so can SAF.! : – ))
No Yaya then then no deal unless the fancy letting another of their fine central mids go?
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I cant believe we are even having this debate!
Evans has the potential to be the best CB in the world when hes older! And hes already good enough to play for us week in week out now, and hes only 21!
Toure is a good player, but letting jonny go is a big no no, we have the money, if we want the player, put a bid in, dont use one of the brightest prospects in the world let alone united go just to save a few bucks!
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@Grognard: tyes but we dont have to sell one of the most promising centre backs to get a dmf, think of the future!
besides who,d think he would want to leave barca, plus we have the money to BUY a dmf.. EVANS is a must stay
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Jamie Lee: – i retract my last statement, i hear you sell them ferdi instead
, he’s only got a few years left and that back aint getting any better. a cb would be a sweetner as i don’t think barca would sell otherwise. Ferdi would love it as he could dress like a prison bitch all he wants in spain. 
Seriously though no players out should be our policy right now, we have a great team chemistry just lack of central mids. we have the cash to pretty much get any player we want.
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The Foster injury could be a blessing in disguise. He has eight weeks to prove he is good enough to be Edwin’s long term replacement. If he flops then we know we need to sign a new keeper to replace Edwin.
Personally I don’t think promoting keepers within the ranks really works. Foster has been injured and sitting on the sidelines for much of his career, so despite his talent he does not have the experience that a really great keeper needs. Goalkeeper is such a critical position in the team that it is better to buy someone who is already experienced.
There is no way we should let Evans go to Barca. He is a readymade replacement for Rio, who im sure will play less games as age and injuries take their toll. If Evans shows some patience he could become a United legend. At 21 he could spend most of his career with us. Oh and he is British!!!
Besides if Barca get Evans there defence will be a lot stronger and they will be even harder to beat. Strengthening our main rivals in Europe is hardly good strategy. Im pretty pissed we sold them Pique last season (not that he is anywhere near as good as Evans, but he thwarted our forwards pretty effectively in the final).
As for Toure, if we weren’t so tight and put in a £20 million offer for Toure I am sure Barca would accept.
As for thinking we could cope without Evans….our defence has been jinxed ever since the Milan defeat in 2007. Brown is usually injured, Rio is vulnerable to injuries. Neville can’t play centre back and is on his last legs anyway. O’Shea is usually filling in at right back or left back. So I really think we need to keep Evans.
Our midfield is a mess. But with £60 million in the bank there is no excuse. I refuse to believe there is not a single player who could be had at a reasonable price who could improve our central midfield.
The truth is that Fergie is again talking to the press about how Giggs is playing like a 20 year old and Scholes is looking good. In his mind we do not need any central midfielders.
Giggs is still very very useful for big games but we made too much use of him last season. As for Scholes he is past it.
Anderson and Carrick need to be played as attacking central midfielders (although both of them are considerably inferior to the midfielders of our rivals). With Ronaldo gone neither need to play as deep.
Fletcher does seem to have developed into a good defensive midfielder, but with Hargreaves injured we do need another one. That should be our priority.
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@colver: Freudian slip there…
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@jamie lee: The future will handle itself. The present is what concerns me now and achieving maximum success.
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