I hate to say I was right but I guess I was. Apparently Real Madrid has agreed on a the fee for Heinze. Soccer 365 from the US reports the following;

“Real Madrid have agree a fee with Manchester United for Gabriel Heinze, according to reports in Spain. Marca claims that a fee of around 12 million Euros (just over £8m) has been agreed between the two clubs for the Argentine left-back, who has been prevented from joining Liverpool. It is thought United are happy to sell him to a club outside of the Premier League and so it could be up to Heinze whether he wants to return to Spain. The Argentine is apparently planning an appeal against the Premier League ruling which denies him the chance to join Liverpool. He could be faced with a tough decision – take the exit route to Madrid or pin all his hopes on an appeal that could fail and see him stuck at United.”

Hopefully this turns out to be true.

In terms of attacking, towards the tail end of the season in a number of games Ronaldo was being double marked when on the wings. During these games (particularly Milan and Chelsea) there was a distinct lack of support from the full backs. Now I would expect this off Brown and O’Shea (square pegs in round holes) but not Heinze. This is where Evra (and G Nev) being absent hit us hard.

As for the world cup I don’t particularly object to his actions, but there was a certain disregard to his long term recovery making it difficult to have any sympathy for Heinze. Similarly I fail to see any particular level of loyalty from Heinze to the club. Be careful not to confuse committed playing style with loyalty. I fail to see how the club has mistreated him. He came back unfit from the world cup, when he regained fitness he was rotated with Evra (who played superbly until Liverpool away), played in the 2 league games against Chelsea, the FA Cup Final and most of the critical CL games. He was then told if he wished to leave he could for a reasonable fee as long as it was abroad. We had a league to win he can hardly expect to be played in preference to Evra just to facilitate his recovery. Just casting my eye over last years line ups he still played a fair few times before the turn of the year.

Sorry for the long winded reply and if I came across as bitter but this particular issue has annoyed me.

PS: Just to show what I know Madrid are being heavily linked with an £8m bid in the Spanish press!

I agree that today’s fullback needs to be more attack minded but the problem here is that Heinze is attack minded. He just doesn’t do it quite the same way Evra does. Two distinctly different styles. And his passing and long crossing is far better than pub standard, come on mate!! As for using Man Utd resources to prepare for the World Cup, well I cannot really blame him for that. I think most world class players would have done the same. Certainly Rooney did. That’s not showing disloyalty, that’s taking advantage of what’s available. You talk about technical deficiencies like he belongs in Division 2. Up until the Brazil game he was in the top three Argentine player of the tournament. There were no technical deficiencies evident. Brazil played a physical and very surprising game in the Final and he as well as the whole team were exposed as a team. They were over confident and that arrogance caused the defensive breakdowns. His only real flaw other than pace is his occasional mental breakdown (aka Rio Ferdinand). When Rio performs one, nobody says anything, and his mental gaffs are far more frequent. No JB, although I do agree with some of your points, you won’t succeed in souring me over Heinze on his abilities. You’re just being bitter I’m afraid. The man turned scoundrel and betrayed the club, and for that we should be angry. However, I think the way the club rewarded his original loyalty was pretty poor. He should never have lost his position to Evra. In fact the only way he could get back into physical shape and form was to be played more often. Instead he languished on the bench. Yet Argentina, arguably in the top three national sides on the planet felt he was not only capable of playing for them, but they used him at CB and LB. I am elated that United was victorious in the league’s ruling and now I hope they can ship him off. Perhaps the top two or three clubs in both Italy and Spain have cooled off due to all this nonsense but the second tier teams as well as Lyon seem interested. United should take what they are offering and get rid of this public relations nightmare. For me it’s a shame he acted so poorly at the end and that the team soured on him before he could be 100% again. I think both parties are to blame in this mess but Heinze deserves what received at the end. To want to go to Liverfool was just unforgivable. And just so you are clear on this, I do like Evra and feel he is a good player.

Interest from top clubs in Spain and Italy appears to be lower than suggested. Neither Barca nor Real seem to particularly care and none of the Italian clubs have stumped up a fairly modest transfer fee in the current climate. His performance in the Copa maybe a misnomer given the vast superiority Argentina enjoyed over their opponents, except in the final where Heinze was turned inside out. I agree that his injury takes signifigant time to recover from, the thing that sticks is that he used OUR time and resources with the sole aim of being ready for the World Cup with scant regards for the next club season.

IMO the fans (including myself) and the press mistook a good, committed player for a world class one in his first year failing to recognise a number of glaring technical deficiencies.

I am very pissed of with Heinze. not because of ‘wanting to move’, but for ‘wanting to move to Liverpool’.
Even though I am emotional over this, I still believe it will not be a bad thing to keep him. He is better than Evra. Don’t now however if he will be able to withstand the annoyance from the fans?

What I find strange is that during the time, NO OTHER OFFERS WERE RECIEVED… why is that?