Jul 07
Obertan deal looks real + The Sun reckons Huntelaar’s next
The entire press corps seem to have latched onto the Obertan story, as expected. The president was quoted as saying he’d be delighted to let him go, and The Sun thinks it is an £8m deal. Going by some accounts, United’s interest in Obertan has surprised circles in France, as he spent half of last season playing for Lorient — a middling Ligue 1 club.
The focus, according to the Sun — who are always ahead of the game [they are capable of reporting news even before an event] — now shifts to Klaas Jan Huntelaar of Real Madrid. We’ve been linked with the Dutchman countless times in the past and we’ve already seen several reports linking us to him this summer. Unsubstantiated rumours — that Milan’s offer was perhaps too low for Madrid — compete with other unsubstantiated rumours — that Meeeeeelan offered to take him on loan.
The Sun maybe a paragon of virtue, but I will believe it when I see it.
If we were to assume, for the purposes of trying to make a point, we sign Huntelaar, then it should ideally leave Ferguson with the central midfield slot to fill with a dynamic defensive midfielder; someone who can dominate and free up Carrick. The breed of the dynamic defensive midfielder is rare though, and quite expensive too. Yaya Toure is a possibility if Mascherano goes to Barcelona, although Toure would be out in January for the African Cup of Nations. Arsenal target and Fiorentina hard-man Felipe Melo, has been bigged up after an impressive showing at the Confederations Cup. He has earned a reputation of collecting a lot of cards. Truthfully, I’d gladly take such a player in the Premiership. He’ll surely concede far fewer fouls here, over the flop-and-dive-heavy Serie A.
Of course, in a dream world I’d take Essien. Which means I should stop writing right now…
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Meanwhile, in case you haven’t seen this. Something to amuse yourselves with, if things aren’t necessarily interesting at work.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Part-time gardener to make United debut soon
- Gabriel Obertan – Shades of Henry?
- Obertan to make United debut
- Bordeaux: Obertan wants to play for United
- Chelsea v Man Utd: Preview
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@RedDevilEddy: Bigdick Park!
He certainly broke the myth that Asian guys are not the most endowed in the nether regions! (sorry, Asian readers, not me but South Park!
)
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@Dan: The lack of movement on Costa stems from the fact they want 20m for him which is ridiculous for a player that doenst even start at gremio. 20m will buy your zhircov for christs sake.
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@NicoQB: The reason we dont play well with Ronaldo up top is because in those games Fergie doesnt play to win. Its usually Ronaldo all one with no help(Watch the first leg of the Barca Semi final t years ago). As others have mentioned, we played well against arsenal because Fergie finally found his balls and decided to attack Arsenal and not just try and defend for 90 minutes.
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@johnsom33: Zhirkov went so cheaply because of the russian connections at chelsea.
And to be honest, we can now afford to waste £20mil on costa.
We had £100mil to spend, take away £19mil(valenica+obertan), we have £81mil.
The only position thats in need of filling is midfield, we need a de rossi type player.
Take £20mil away we still have £61mil to spend on that type player.
I suggest a £40-50mil bid for De rossi, and im serious about that.
If anyone is wondering, the £100mil is the ronaldo money AND our regular transfer budget, £20mil.
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NicoQB he was not played much upfront during most of the season because of the number of strikers that were there. go look at how he performed upfront in the 07/08 season at times he was doing it all. ronaldo upfront is still better than berbatov and ronnies pace power strength the way he can stretch teams was a massive key, which is now taken away from united team.
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Some good stuff up on Manutd.com which confirms the Obertan deal and gives some good bio information. I actually think it will turn out as a very good deal. He has played over 100 league games at the tender age of 20, has champions league experience and apparentely when France U21s played England U21s he was the best player on the pitch. Still got a lot of maturing to do but I reckon this is the right place for him! And if it is true we got him for around £3 million it is a steal! Just think how much we shelled out on Nani and Anderson and how much Costa’s people are asking for him.
I think the next signing has to be a stellar central midfield player for NOW. Obertan is one for the future, we have a bunch of other young players coming through so the future is bright. Add a good central midfielder with a lot of experience and we’ll be able to challenge next season while we wait for our young players to mature.
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@Dan:
De Rossi is nearest thing I’ve seen to Keane.
I think he’s non transferable.
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@Cyclops-Red: No, lorik cana is the closest thing to roy keane ive seen, De rossi comes a very close second.
But cana takes NO prisoners, hes more hard then vidic. That tells you something.
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@Dan: NO-ONE!!! is harder than Vidic!
Well, maybe Park… 
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@RedDevilEddy:
he’ll effin murda’ ya.
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@Cyclops-Red:
He certanly scared Ronaldo… 
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lorik cana likes the odd bone crunching tackle… he wouldn’t last 5 minutes on the same pitch as Mike Dean.
hows about Miguel Veloso…. portugese, and apparently wanted by a few teams in the premier league (bolton aston villa….) but will probably be out of their price range. there was big rumours a while back that we were buying him… and apparently him and nani are good mates (he’d be Another signing from SP Lisbon)
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@Will: If you are fair, you can be as hard as you want. Thats my policy, and from what Ive heard Cana is as well. WOuldnt mind seeing him at United, he could really find spark from the old clashes! Vieira vs Keane… Cana vs Fabregas?
Cana vs Mashed Potates would be hard though. I would have bid for Cana, he seems a really good player.
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@steve: In the 07/08 season he played mostly as a RW/RF or LW/LF, rarely central striker.
Listen, when Ruud left everybody thought we were doomed to failure as he was our no.1 goal threat. We all agree that the fact that Ronaldo deprives us of some of his talents, namely penetration (on a football pitch I mean) and aerial threat. But that does not mean suddenly we’ll loose all of our footballing skills.
Many times when Ronaldo was rested I noticed that we played much better as a TEAM. Meaning stringing together passes, alternating quick and slow phases of play. A bit like Barca if you like. I personally really want to see us succeed in this kind of football.
@johnsom33: I agree about Fergie’s tactics, and hated it when he did it. But remember that the arsenal game, for 10 min Arsenal lloked like they were about to maul us until Gibbs made his best impersonation of Park (no, Eddy, not that which you are thinking of!). I’ll admit we played well, but that was one of those rare occasions this tactic worked.
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@NicoQB:
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I think with Ronaldo gone the team will become more balanced.Ronaldo’s propensity to go down as often as possible would break up our rhythm as well as leaving us exposed when he played wide and lost the ball.
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@Cyclops-Red: not to mention our players secretly cursing his ineptitude to control his ‘balance’
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@Will:
He needs to take up ballet.
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@RedDevilEddy:
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@RedDevilEddy: So he’s a tight ass? lol
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Does anyone else agree that people feel we should just burn over a 100 million for the sake of it? It’s like that movie Brusters millions we should see how fast we can spend all this money. So the club can prove a point that we have it. The hidden talent is how wisely you can spend that money not try and waste it it’s not good financial sense.
Costa why should united waste another 20 million on a reserve gremio star because he could be the next ronaldo or ronaldinho when his attitude is left a lot to be desired, its like if we asked clubs 20 million for welbeck, they said Anderson would be the next ronaldinho and look what he has turned out. A player who can’t even score from open play.
How anyone thinks Costa can solve the problems of replacing ronaldo when Costa is not even ready yet to play for a club like united, it is not fair on the lad gremio has a club when they need him more than united and brazil for the future. I think it is about time our current players start smelling the coffee wake up and start playing like man utd players.
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@steve:
Spending £100m just for the sake of it is plain daft. The club isn’t doing that. I would just like the club to be spending on proven players that are ready now. Maybe £20m on 3 or 4 young players with potential is a good thing but the rest should be nvested on proven talent.
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we need that 80 million to be spent wisely. No more potential stars, we’ve got too many. Lets get established players. Even though i love lorik as some1 said b4 he wldnt last 5 mins with mike dean refing. But its a big dilemma because we need a hard bastard who is going to fuck anyone in the arse and it looks like he cld take essien on in a challenge! im not 2 sure bout valencia cause he isnt that great if u think about it i mean, he is predictable, not that quick but he does cross well. Obertan is a sick player, he is soooo quick so he is a good buy and owen is a gift cause he cost nothing and can pick up at least 5 – 10 gls next season. We haven done so bad in the market but we need to start looking for the big fish.
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@steve: @Cyclops-Red: Personally, i’m satisfied with the way Fergie is going about our business this summer. A lot of people have said that building the team around Ronnie was holding some of the others back and we would be more balanced, maybe not as potent, now he has departed. Besides, we won as much as we did last season because we had a deep, talented squad. Fergie is trying to build a balanced squad and avoid signings that would shift our play towards individual dependency.
I feel we are okay as we are right now. Apart from maybe central midfield; a bit shaky, given Hargo’s uncertainty but I believe we have the right players in Cazza, Ando, Fletch, Hargo, Gibbo and Schiggs (both are effectively one player now). Our midfield was blown away in Rome because we didn’t have our dynamo Fletch in there. The guy has become the real deal; consider his performances against the likes of Chelski, Inter and Arsenal and you will see what I mean.
We have three quality strikers with two starlets sniffing around the first team. Our defence is in top shape and is filled deep with talent, which will only get better with Wes returning. Our wide men are more balanced now with the signing of Valencia and Obertan. I expect a pairing of Nani and Valencia for most games, with Park used as a sub or more in Europe and Obertan/Tosic as understudies. This is a deep and talented squad and I expect big things from some of the players who had been on the backburner last season (Nani, Berba, Anderson etc) and some others, including the young ‘uns.
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@NicoQB: Arsenal string the passes together well too!! However they don’t have the thrust and dynamic penetration that a player like Ronaldo gives you.
Team work is great, but what really busts open a game is individual excellence – players taking on their defender and beating them e.g., or the monstrous effort and winning attitude exhibited by the likes of Keano, or more recently Vidic.
You just can’t underestimate the value that a top, top, player offers to the team!!
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@steve: I never claimed he was in the league with Torres and Villa but Huntelaar is as good as Eto’o in my not so humble opinion. Berbatov is a fine player but he is not the goal scorer these players are and so he is more difficult to define. But to just let you know something so you don’t ever make that mistake again, I am never wrrr. I can’t even say the bloody word in regards to myself.
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@RedDevilEddy: I think Tevez should be called Big Baby because he carries a soother with him wherever he goes.
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@Grognard: When Grog is RIGHT, he is RIGHT, and when he is WRONG he is RIGHT, and when he is only HALF WAY WRONG, he is still COMPLETELY RIGHT
.
So says Grog, but I never met a human being yet, who was always right, and never wrong. If anyone finds such an unusual specimen, let me know, because he/she doesn’t exist
.
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@Anthony Los: agreed, we need balance, and with the old guard on their way out, we need to add experience to the squad, proven experience.
As much as I hate looking at players from the rest of the big 4, the top of my list has to be the beast Essien. Can’t think of anyone we could do with more. We’re strong in all areas of the pitch except for the midfield, which definately could do with strengthening, but I as far as Chelski go, it’d be about as hard as getting Messi here as it would be for Essien…
any thoughts on who’d be the next best thing to an Essien type player going around?
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Does anyone know what the actual situation with Hargo actually is?
I’ve only read a few press reports stating a decision will be made this month when he can start proper training.
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@Nino: I do see, and it is impossible to answer every comment, so just keep on being selective
.
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@Nino: I’m self employed Nino, and have had a bit of a quite breathing period of late, but Friday this week, I get the next part of a big project I have taken on, so I will not be able to spend as time here. I should have started last wkend, but it was delayed a week
. So I will be working to a deadline for a good few months. But I will drop in now and again to see what you are all up too 
.
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@Grognard: I’m glad to hear that you think Berbatov is not the goal scorer we could have with the aquistion of Eto’o or Hunter.
In defining Berbatov, I would think that he is an under-performing, languid, striker, who prefers to play with some players and not others – and slightly behind the normal CF position, but not too far back, and only when he’s being fed the ball! Not one for defending, and won’t chase the ball down, because his energy needs to be saved!!
Heck, I just love this guy!!
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@Cyclops-Red: They won’t know for sure if his legs are fixed until he starts running full pelt and diving in at tackles. There has been nothing in the build up training so far to suggest that the operations haven’t worked. They’ve been slowly working up the intensity f his training (and I mean real slowly) to make sure he is 100% ok at each level before moving him up to the next.
Full regular training should be coming in the next couple of weeks (he was doing light training with the squad before the Champions League final in May), and I think the target has always been September. Might make an appearance or two in the reserves early in the month. 10 mins to start and then a half and so on.
If United suddenly sign a strong tackling midfielder in the next month I guess we can take it as read that his recovery isn’t going as planned.
I live in hope that he comes back fully fixed and just as good.
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@Redrich: If you followed redrants regularly you would know that every view you had about Berbatov has time and again been proven wrong.
Shame, as stereotypes are often harder to shrug off than real, proven fachts.
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@Traverse:
Thanks for the info.
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@NicoQB: Redrants will not prove me wrong, Berbatov, himself, has, and will in the future prove me right!!
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@NicoQB: Remember the penalty kick against Everton??
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@NicoQB: Remember the first half against Fulham, right after the Liverpool debacle. SAF asked him to lead the line, and he became completely invisible. His first half display was shameful and abysmal. He should have been benched for the rest of the season for this performance alone!
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@NicoQB: Remember that SAF had so much confidence in his big signing, that he sat him on the bench for the CL Final!! And then he only came on after Park ran out of gas midway through the 2nd half!!
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Obertan looks very promising, just the type of player we need, and it looks like he’s got a better work ethic than Ronaldo, and that’s what I like to see. Ronaldo was lazy, and never attempted to win the ball back. I think Obertan should have the No.7 shirt.
I still think we need a tough central midfielder who can hold the ball though. carrick and Fletcher are both aggressive in winning back the ball, but they’re not very strong. We need a threat imposing figure in the middle as hargreaves would be still injured three-fourth of the season.
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@Grognard: You know what Bro.. Its not about starting the The Hunter over berba or otherwise. You know how big fan i am of The Hunter. If you check my post you will have an idea about it. I was even ready to dance on streets of Mumbai if we end up with Hunter.. But alas…
So, the point here is the suitability of player if you ask me if we sign Hunter what options we have in combination of striker…
1. Rooney – Berba & Hunter off the Bench
2. Rooney – Hunter & Berba off the Bench
3. Berba – Hunter & Rooney in midfield or off the bench
And if you ask me thw best for me will be third on because i always felt that you play Berba as SS and that man is just artist on the pitch with all the things that he can do. But, that not gonna happen
So, i think for that reason we can steak with what we have or else we should know the way of accommodating the 3 of them in the team may be playing very narrow up front with width coming from full back and very strong and three man midfield with 3 of them playing in narrow triangle very close to each with Hunter being the focal point and Berba and Rooney both playing parallel to each other behind the hunter…
I hope you can visualize what i am trying to say….
But that is not gonna happen…
So, no matter how much i love the Hunter but still i would like him to go to AC or else and have bag full of goals and great career as i dont want him to warm benches at United….
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anyone seen this yet?
Obertan + Hunterlaar
looks like Stuttgart is gonna beat us to the punch for Hunterlaar?
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@Redrich: Oh noes!!1!1!!11 He missed teh penalty kickers!!!2345!!
Seriously mate, he missed a pen, Who hasnt? Ronaldo missed to very important ones in the CL 2 years ago. Missing a pen dont make you bad player.
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@Redrich: Rich, the whole team played bad against fulham
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@Redrich: Thats because the 4-3-3 formation worked well against arsenal. And if we played 2 in midfield, i dont want to think about it.
Stop TRYING to find bad things about berbatov, hes got 14 goals and 15 assists, thats 29 goals contributed to him.
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@Dan: Thank you Dan!
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I really don’t see us buying Huntelaar. We’ll buy one more player and it will be a central midfielder for around £20 million….Im not sure who. But it seems like Owen was a direct replacement for Tevez, Valencia for Ronaldo, the Obertan signing is for the future, and if Hargreaves does not prove his match fitness I am sure Fergie will realise we need another defensive midfielder.
Berbatov deserves another season to prove himself. With Ronaldo gone and replaced by Valencia I think he’ll get more of the ball and won’t be as invisible as he was for large stretches of last season. If he could come close to his goal totals for Tottenham that would also help our cause.
To be honest our Champions League final formation was a mess. It was more like a 4-4-1-1 with Giggs as support striker and Ronaldo roaming free up top. If Fletcher had been playing instead of Giggs it would have been a 4-3-3 and we would have had more of a chance. It amazed me because Giggs is quite capable of playing in midfield.
It will be interesting to see how Fergie plays in Europe next season. The 4-3-3 formation was effective at times but I never really liked it as a formation. Id rather see a flat 4-4-2 with Berbatov/Owen and Rooney up top and Valencia and Park keeping it tight on the wings with Carrick and Fletcher (or a new signing) in the middle. Park isn’t much use in the Premier League where his defensive abilities and tracking back isn’t required but he is so useful in Europe because of his ability to neutralise a flank.
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@Dan: Same here. Thanks Danny boy.
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@Redrich: And in the end the result showed as Park was piss poor and everybody agreed that Fergie screwed up his tactics. By the time he came on, the rest of the team had their morale down to zero.
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