Oct 10
The Tevez Problem
So far, the biggest loser from the signing of Dimitar Berbatov has been Carlos Tevez. He didn’t get on the pitch at all against Chelsea, failed to gel with the Bulgarian against Notlob, and was relegated to the bench for the games against Aalborg and Blackburn. His industry whilst on the pitch haven’t been rewarded with goals, and at the same time Rooney is returning to something like his best form.
And yet talks are on-going to make his contract permanent by paying MSI (the company who “owns” him) an eye-watering sum, reported to be around £32m. Which is more than we paid for Berba or, for that matter, anyone else. Ever. Spot the disconnect? Doesn’t take a genius.
There are essentially three questions:
1. Has Tevez really become a reserve?
2. Should we retain Tevez on a permanent deal?
3. How much should we pay for him?
Has Tevez really become a reserve?
I would certainly say that Tevez has become the second choice support striker to Berbatov. There’s been a lot of debate about whether Tevez is better than Rooney or vice versa, but to my mind Rooney is a much better fit with Berbatov.
The reason for this is that Berba isn’t a poacher who plays right up top all the time in the Van Nistelrooy mould – as we saw against Blackburn, he likes to pull off and receive the ball to feet with his back to goal. When he does this, Rooney is adept at pushing forward into the spaces behind Berba as an auxiliary target man (think of his goal against Aalborg as an example). Indeed, Rooney played much of last season as the main striker.
Tevez, on the other hand, is almost never to be found on the shoulder of the last man. He is rarely in a one-on-one situations (Rooney is sometimes criticised for missing too many, but at least he gets there), and is mostly to be found surging from deep or from wide. Therefore, when Berbatov drops off, it is unlikely that Tevez will “swap” and take him place as the line leader. We will lack the kind of central, goal-poaching presence in exactly the same way as we did for much of last season, relying instead on intricate moves or pieces of magic from deeper-lying players.
That is not to say there is not a role for Tevez. It would be criminal of Fergie not to try the 4-2-3-1 approach, with Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo playing behind Berbatov. It might not work – it might be a case of too many cooks – but it surely must be tried. If it does work, and if a role can be created for Tevez to raid from a wider starting position (something he has done in the past for Argentina), then he certainly mustn’t be a reserve. But if it doesn’t work, then unfortunately the answer to the question is “yes, Tevez has become a reserve”.
So, should we sign him?
On the face of it (and not considering price for the moment), this seems like a no-brainer. Even if we can’t accomodate him regularly in a first choice line-up, over the course of the season injury, fatigue and just plain rotation will see him play a good number of games, make important contributions and score a decent number of goals. As an impact sub he would be almost unparalleled.
However, before signing a player who may have to spend more games than he would like on the bench, you need to know more about his temperament. On the one hand, you have the Ole Solskjaers, Darren Fletchers and Wes Browns of this world, who would prefer to be part of a successful squad than a starter for a team winning nothing. But Tevez seems a bit too good to be accepting this sort of role on a long term basis – the teams who coming knocking on his door will be of the Real Madrid calibre, not the Spurs calibre.
Therefore, even if he is initially happy with a role as junior partner in a rotation system, the offers and the stories linking him away from Old Trafford will be relentless. Such rumours, as we found out in the extreme case of Ronaldo over the summer, can be massively unsettling for both the player and the club.
In the long term, if Tevez can’t nail down a regular place in the first team, he’ll leave, even if it is reluctantly. Which begs the question – why sign him in the first place?
How much should we pay for Tevez?
This is the real crux. If we could sign Tevez for two more years at £10m, we should do it without batting an eyelid. But for £32m? For a player who may well end up being a regular substitute? On top of the £5 approx that we have already paid as his loan fee? It’s just madness.
Apart from the sheer ludicrousness of sitting our most expensive player on the bench two matches out of three, we’d have no hope of getting anything like our money back when he moves on. If we sold him on for £20m in 18 months time, we’d be doing well.
So if we do decide to sign him, about £20m is the most that we should be prepared to pay, and we should be looking to get that down to nearer £15m (at the cost of additional payments based on appearances, goals etc). But is there a deal to be done at that price? You would have thought not, since the company that owns his rights will be looking for a much bigger return on their investment, and could certainly get a higher price in the open market. And we could certainly buy a decent support striker who is happy to be part of a rotation system for that amount of money.
I don’t like where my train of thought leads me – where this article is going. I don’t want to let Tevez go, I love the lad, I love his attitude, and he’s scored some crucial goals for us. But pure, cold-eyed business sense dictates that, unless the dream-team Fab Four up front works, we may have to let Red Tev move on.
Penguin, the author of this article, also blogs here.
Related items from Red Rants:
- 5 reasons why Tevez needs Manchester United
- Man Utd v Celtic: Preview
- Tevez expects ‘good reception’ at derby – yeah, right!
- Get the new Tevez shirt
- Tevez for £32m? Tevez Quotes Denied + Kaizer Chiefs Friendly
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (485)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (346)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
i think foster IS good enough to be our no.1, and the best in england(thats english), but i also feel adler has potential to be the best in the world. So, i would be perfectly happy with foster(extremely actually, knowing he’s home grown) but i would no shut the door on a possible move for adler.
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@Grognard: This Adler guys seems good from what i’ve read, quite similar to Ben Foster’s rave reviews some time ago!! He actually got his debut last night due to injuries to Germany’s preferred GK choices, but still impressed and is looking a shoe-in for a permanent spot in the national 1st team.
If he dreams of playing for United, good, but I’d still like to give Foster a good ‘ol run of games this season first. I believe Foster will come good, and Fergie has been repeating phrases along those lines frequently, so there must be something about Foster that makes him receive constant praise and adulation from the gaffer.
Btw, did anyone watch the Sweden-Portugal game? How did our wingers perform?
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@Gabriel our wingers well nani continued his disappointing selfishness and ron was kicked out of the game.
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@gator: What’s up with Nani? I hope that’s not gonna develop into a habit… I thought CQ could be our last resort with regards to sorting out his recent performances!! He has to get out of this slump pronto, we need him to live up to some of his potential and produce those goods. The funny thing is, he is a great passer of the ball, yet that is where he is failing. I’m all for trying to attain/develop a vast array of skills, such as, dribbling, shooting, crossing etc but when the chips are down, you fall back to what you know best; in Nani’s case, this will be providing assists.
He is either very strong-willed/determined in his pursuit of all round excellence or he is very ignorant and naive to the fact that his recent, less than average performances are doing both his commercial/footballing stock and chances in both United and Portugal’s 1st teams a lot of harm.
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Did anyone watch Angola vs. Niger??? Did Manucho play? and how’d he do?
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@Craig Mc: I never said he was as good as Schmeichel. My God Schmeichel may go down as one of the top 5 keepers of all time with Maier, Yasin, Zamorra and Zoff. What I’m saying is that he could be the next Schmeichel for United. A long term keeper with greatness written all over him. Certainly has all the tools and he comes from the number one country when it comes to producing keepers, Germany. Hell, I even think Manuel Neuer is better than him. That’s how blessed that country is with keepers.
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@dan(u-ol): Foster has missed far too much time and has shown a real propensity to get injured. Get rid of him and bring in a true blue chip keeper. United should have a keeper that is ranked amongst the best in the World, not just fucking England. A country that produced wankers like Seaman, Robinson etc. No way. Schmeichel was great because he learned and trained with the German masters he idolized when he was young. His favorite keepers were Sepp Maier and Toni Schumacher of Germany. Two fantastic keepers and keepers who are physical and take charge in the box. Great distributors and shot stoppers but above all commanders. And Schmeichel was that. If Adler has one thing over Neuer it is this ability to dictate and command the box. He has courage and he really goes after crosses and high balls in the box. The guy is awesome and has the potential to be a future Rock of Gibraltar for any great team that signs him.
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@Grognard: Oh ok Grog, my mistake
. I thought your glowing recommendation was that we would be getting another Peter Schmeik, but like you say, he has the potential to be. I believe if Ben Foster keeps up the constant injuries he sustains, we truly will need someone outstanding to replace Edwin.
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@Gabriel: Truthfully, I don’t really fancy Foster and even if he is pretty good, I much prefer Adler. United should not have a second rate keeper. Top class world class is what I want. After all, we are talking about Manchester United, not Aston Villa.
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Hey Groggy, a question
I’m not much of a hockey fan, although if I had to pick a favorite team, it’d probably the Capitals (the Hurricanes do nothing for me tbqh).
What’s your take on Ovechkin vs Crosby?
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@Grognard: no no no and no. Homegrown talent is ALWAYS better then buying talent, the way you say “get rid of him” makes him sound like he just a pile of poo. Remember his debut, if it wernt for him, we could of lost… to derby fucking county, the worst team ever to grace the premier league, and lose the title also. How you can mention seamen and robinson in the same breath is beyond me. In england and the rest of britain, currently there are class goalkeepers that are good enough for united, like given, gordon, kirkland, hart and even foster.
i have slep on this i just realised, foster IS better then gordan, buffon, says gordon has the potential to be the best in the world, would that not mean, foster also has the potential to be the best in the world.
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@dan(u-ol): here are some links:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/international?id=33998&league=uefa.euro&&cc=5901
http://www.skysports.com/football/euro2008/player-profiles/0,23132,12023_126146,00.html
http://www.goal.com/EN/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=906797
I like Foster and he can have success at Utd but right now he is mighty untried and not an International + he looks like he is always injured!!! We need a good replacement for EVDS (who, in my frank opinion, is now turning into a big liability – too many gaffes in lots of important games plus he is very very nervous in handling crosses in the box these days despite his 6’6 frame!!!). My number one choices for long term goalie are either Adler or Ochoa, both of whom are almost world class and both are utd fans! We can have two top class keepers in Foster and Adler/Ochoa and PIG as no. 3 (or sold! He doesnt at all convince me that he is a man utd player!)
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Some more GK reports from Goal.com
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@MUFC Fan in America: I used to be a huge hockey fan but I have grown to hate the sport over the the past 15 years. Too much equipment, Goalies are two times their normal size because of it, the rules suck, the defensive clutch and grab style of play is boring and the game just nauseates me.
Crosby is an all round better player than Ovetchkin. While Ovetchkin is a better goal scorer, he is not in the same league with Crosby when it comes to play making. It’s like comparing Gretzky to Brett Hull. Hull in his hay day good score 75 goals but get only around 40 assists. Gretzky would score 55 goals but get 130 assists. Crosby when healthy is good for 40+ goals while Ovetchkin is good for 50+ but Crosby can get 70+ assists and Ovetchkin will struggle to get near 40 to 45. I’ll always pick the play maker over the sniper. Also, I’ll always pick the Canadian over the Russian. Truly and historically, Canadians play the game with more heart and passion. When it comes to hockey it’s built into our DNA.
I suspect you are in a fantasy draft, correct me if I’m wrong. In a draft where points count, Crosby is the better choice.
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@dan(u-ol): You have your preferences and I have mine. Foster at his best is not a world class keeper. Adler already is. End of debate. United are the best club in the world. They need to have a world class keeper. A good English keeper just isn’t good enough. He may not be poo, but he’s not what the doctor ordered either.
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@dan(u-ol): Buffon sounds an awful like Buffoon don’t you think? He’s never played with Gordon has never trained with him so he is just guessing like all of us. I’ve watched Gordon enough to say that he is a good keeper but frankly, I thought he was better than he has shown. Truthfully, If I want a critique on an upcoming keeper I’d prefer to hear what Schmeichel, Maier, Kahn and Schumacher have to say. For me they are the best keepers ever and play the position the way I like to see it played. Aggressively with a take no prisoners, show no mercy attitude. All four of those keepers are very high on Adler and Neuer as well as Tim Wiese.
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I’m glad MU fans are not managers. It’s a bit sad when fans want to apply EA Sports FIFA or Football manager techniques to our club.
First off, Tevez deal is 20m. The papers sensationalise it at 32m by inlcuding monies already paid and wages in an attempt to make it purposefully sound more than the Berbatov deal. And we all fall for it.
Second, Tevez is worth every penny of the amount that United have ALREADY agreed with MSI.
Thirdly, I’m glad to see the Rooney bashers have now laid off him, but a bit sad (although not unexpected) to see they have now jumped onto Tevez’ back.
Fourth, up until a few week ago, people referred to a ‘Tevez/Rooney type of player’, now they refer to a ‘Berba/Rooney type of player’? And in the same breath saying Tevez is not like that? What a joke?
Grognard, dissapointing to see your take on the whole matter, especially considering it was you who not too long ago cursed Rooney (before he started scoring goals again I might add).
Tevez = class
Rooney = class
Ronaldo = class
Berbatov = class (I hope – as yet not convincing enough to justify the Eric Cantona comparisons)
United = class
So, why should we not sign him?
Rooney > Ronaldo
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We should sign Carlito, but we should bare in mind monies we have already spent, which are part of the package and monies MSI still want as part of the deal. We also need to understand what rile he has to play in the team, if he is being seen as an impact sub then if the alround deal is £32m, than that is very expensive.
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@Stephen: “We should sign Carlito, but we should bare in mind monies we have already spent…”
Why should we? We are not the owners of the club.
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@Karl: We should be concerned about our clubs finances, and any true fan doesn’t want to see the club taken for a ride by any other club or organisation.
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Ou club have been taken for a ride ever since I can remember. We alway pay over the odds for players and sell at give-away prices.
This is not an attack on you, but simply an example because the view you have is that of almost everybody. The point is, we are NOT the owners and do NOT share in the profit/loss of the club. Fans should stick to keeping their Football Manager techniques on the playstation and EXPECT or DEMAND to be entertained by the best possible group of players in the world when it comes to our team. We DESERVE the best and should not concern ourselves with how much it cost the club. That is for the owners to worry about.
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What do you guys know about World WAr One? PLease reply. Ive got a school assignment and I coul duse some help- Grog, Dan, Craig and Stephen….everybody? PLease help me and make it short. Thanks.
Nothing to do at the moment so I just thought this is something to do to spend time if you dont hae anything to do.
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@Karl: Well it does affect me because if we pay too much money for players, my season ticket goes up and up every year, so it does affect the fans.
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@Stephen: I understand what you are saying and am in agreement in part. But there is a limit that season ticket prices can go up with. The owners know that if it goes up too much, the fans won’t come, so it will have to be moderated. There are too many other factors involved. If player prices go up too much, it then forces the club to become more creative in ways of making money. There is no way they can burden that on ticket prices. For example, we are currently the most debt-laden club in the world, yet our ticket prices are lower than London clubs.
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@Karl: As you say our season ticket prices are lower than London clubs, and rightly so due the econmics of the areas. Also there is margin for them to increase and saying the fans won’t come, is wrong the real fan will be priced out of going, but tickets will sell to corparates and to the tourist element which is already there. We do have large debts but due the revenue we gererate we can manage that debt, like your income can supplement your mortgage. The Glaziers are at the club for money, not fun like the Sheiks or Abromovich, they intend to make money, and if we spend big the will want some return back, if we fail to win the league or the EPC, then they will still want to make money, and the fan will be the one to pay.
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@Stephen: Ticket price increases will be aligned according to trends and supply/demand. Like you said, the Glazers are in it to make money. They will always strive to get the most out of the situation. If a tourist is prepared to pay 100 quid, why should the good businessman sell for 60 quid? Therefore, regardless of whether we pay 5mil or 30mil for a player, the price are still likely to go up. I agree that by paying more money for good players forces the club to put it up (or rather gives them a reason as opposed to an excuse), but that does not mean that if we pay little money for silly players then the ticket prices will not go up.
The point I was trying to make is that there are many other ways of making money. True the fans in the end pay for it all, but it is not all linked to the ticket prices.
My verdict, let the businessmen concern themselves with the profit/loss margins and we concern ouselves with being entertained. THAT is what we are paying for. For my hard earned money, I DESERVE THE BEST!
I know that I am not very eloquent in bringing a point of view accross, but try to see the principle of what I’m trying to say.
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@Karl: Mate you make your point well, and we all deserve the best as we the best fans in the World.
The point I was trrying to make is we all want Carlos to stay, he works his socks off and his heart is firmly lodged with the club and that means a lot. But to say lets pay £20m on top of the £10m lloan figure we I believe we have paid already is a lot of money. If Fergie sees him as soley an impact sub, then we could spend that money wiser in my view. I am not bashing him at all, but if he is not a regualar starter that is silly money, and I care that my club is taken advantage of by other greedy chairman. We could bolster our club in different areas with hat sort of money. To say it is not our money its theirs is not right, the fans foot the bill, if it is not season ticket prices, it is new shirts, food and drink at the ground.
We are lucky because revenue is being generated due to success on the pitch, but if and God lets hope not, we fail to win a trophy for three or so years, we still will pay over the odds for players, and the fans will pay.
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Tevez suffers from lack of versatility. He can only really play as a support striker which is Rooney’s favoured position and while earlier in the season Rooney was really rather poor, there is no doubt he is returning to top form and needs to be playing every game. Tevez and Rooney can work but it looks to me like Berbatov and Rooney will be a far better partnership.
Looking back to 1999 Yorke and Cole were the starters. Solkjaer was an impact sub but it is worth remembering he was playing a lot of games on the right wing. So I think Tevez needs another position he is able to play effectively for us if he wants more games. Any ideas what it could be?
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@colver: I’m not trying to cover for Tevez, but I think he is very much suited to the attacking midfield position that Scholes used to play. If you think about it, his tackling is not worse than Scholes’. I am pretty sure that is what is earmarked for him (to run in tandem with Anderson), with being Rooney’s replacement his secondary role.
I am glad to see that Berbs is starting to track back and do some work lately, so this is not a pun for him. However, there are times when we play teams where we cannot afford the luxury of having 2 attackers up front that don’t contribute to defensive duties (Ronaldo/Berbatov). In these circumstances, it makes a lot of sense to have a Rooney/Tevez combo.
Btw, Rooney=30m, Berbs=30m, why is Tevez=30m not justified?
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@Karl: Rooney and Berba, seem to be shoe in staters Tevez isn’t.
Tevez could play out wide in a 4-3-3, but not as a midfielder, he has not got the passing range which is require. Also it is a bit of a square peg in a round hole, Tevez is an off striker and should be played as one.
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One little fact that our Football Manager gurus also need to be mindfull of is the fact that should we not sign Tevez, his most likely detination would be over to Anfield to link up with Mascherano. Can you imagine Tevez and Torres against us? I doubt Rio and Vidic would be able to contain that.
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@Stephen: I just find it strange that the same was said of Tevez and Berbs not too long ago.
Why do everybody assume that Dimitar Berbatov is a sure starter? And that he is better than Tevez and Rooney?
He might well be, but so far, I am not convinced (that’s not implying I don’t want him to be – if he do well, my team do well).
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@Karl: Because he is starting?! All three striker have been fit and Tevez has only started one game, and that was when Ronaldo was out at Anfield, and I am not a football manager guru, I am saying Tevez is a great player, not if he is not going to start an all round package of £32 whatever million is very expensive for a sub.
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@ Karl – I’m not convinced he would want to make that move – i think he firmly understands what that would mean to United fans and he also seems a pretty top bloke. Then again, his owner might not care. I think he’d go to Spain or Italy – just because they can pay more for him and that’ll be the determining factor.
Personally I can’t see us offloading Tevez. For two reasons: 1 – he has great fitness and is quite young and 2 – we’re not a selling club.
Point 1 – Unlike Rooney and many of our other players, Tevez almost never seems to hurt himself. Over the course of the year we need a player that is always available, and so far he seems to fit that bill. He can just about play anywhere centrally forward. Plus he’s got plenty of time to learn more nous and understanding – he has a lot of hte technique already so can work on his reading of the game with time. I don’t think he relies on pace as I don’t think he has all that much, so he is going to need to work on the more tactical side of the game which is natural for someone his age.
2 – when we sell Ronaldo we’re going to have to work very hard on sustaining our image as a destination club, not a visiting club. We have a great core of young, talented foreigners, and if Ronaldo and Tevez were to both leave at such young ages it would send a pretty clear message to the other players. If we hold onto everyone other than Ronaldo, then he will be seen as the exception to the rule.
The big problem will come down to: is he happy to not be in the starting XI, but instead player 20 some games a year as a starter and probably another 20 from the bench. I can’t yet tell…
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@Stephen: I’m not attacking you. I just made a general comment. There are also many other reasons why Berbs are currently starting / started ahead of Rooney and Tevez.
@Beachryan. You are probably right in your Anfield assessment, but the irony is, at the moment, the fans don’t want him (they don’t think he’s worth it). Why should he care about the fans then? Why not piss them off on purpose? Not saying that it will be the reason for him moving there, but it will definitely be the reason for Rafa to lure him there. He’s already acclimaticed to England, and everybody knows he will do very well at any Premiership club.
As you stated, at the end of the day, the final decision lies with how happy Tevez will be with his team role. However, SAF has a lot of input in that decision, so, the final decision actually lies with SAF.
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@Karl: I totally agree with you on the Tevez issue. It seems a lot of people consider themselves football experts when they are clearly clueless. Who informed anyone here that Tevez is now super sub. Why did that not apply to Rooney when he was benched for two consecutive games? However,I don’t think Tevez will move because SAF has a plan for all our strikers for this and the following seasons.
Tevez is on the bench because Rooney is on form and because Berbatov needs games. We may all be surprised to see that in the following game ,Roovez will be starting with Dimi on the bench.It’s called rotation
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@Jay wire: Actually Fergie has said he is an impact player, and if I am not mistaken he has been on the bench 4 times out of the last 6 matches, and he only started against Villareal as Berba was injured.
He is a top player no boubt but not £32m, we just have to negotiate.
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@Karl: Who says the fans don’t want him? Because we’re questioning such a heavy price tag for a player that has indicated clearly how desperate he is to play for us, doesn’t mean we don’t want him. I mean, he has played a whole season for us, why should we be held to ransom when we clearly have the upper hand in this deal. Very few players are worth £30mil+… Neither Berba or Rooney are worth what the money we paid for them, but we we’re held to ransom, so we had to fork out. However, in this case, we have a strong opportunity to negotiate the asking price and you say we should pay the exorbitant amount just because?
I love Tevez and I know he will get plenty starts this season. It’s just the start of the season and both Berba and Rooney needed the extra games to get 100% match fit, so we’ve seen more of them. The liverpool comment is just ludicrous at best.. why would liverpool pay £30mil for a new striker when they have torres, keane, gerrard etc? I mean they paid around £20mil for torres!! Besides, even if he went to Liverpool, he will be in a similar situation to what he is in now, a rotation policy, so it doesn’t make any sense!!
If you were David Gill and you could lower the asking price for Tevez, wouldn’t you do it?
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@Gabriel: Spot on mate!!
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@Stephen: cheers mate
I just find it wierd why fans’ opinions/comments have to be polarized. It’s not a case of ‘You want him or you don’t', we’re just questioning the price-tag, especially when we have a very good chance of reducing it. Just because we have paid £30mil+ for players before doesn’t mean that should become our transfer market standard.
Tevez is not a bench player, but part of a strong attacking quartet; Tevez, Rooney, Berbatov, Ronaldo. We can’t play all of ‘em at the same time, so a rotation policy must be utilised. Every big team has superstars who are part of a rotation policy; Barcelona, Inter Milan etc People are too quick to sensationalise minute issues.
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It is not a case as Gabriel said of either we want him or we don’t, we all want Carlos to stay, he is a superb player with a tremendous attitude. All we want is to get the best deal we can for our club and to say I don’t care what we pay as long as we get him is not good for the club.
Carlos wants to stay, we want him to stay, all I want is David Gill to do his job rather just roll over and pay what people want.
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@Gabriel: Please re-read the last paragraph of Penguin’s article, and most of the comments in agreement.
What if management is unsuccessful in negotiating the price? Then it seems the concensus is to let him go. Is that not correct?
That, to me is an indication that he is then not wanted, especially considering that the price was set even before he joined the team. The being held ransom part does not quite effectively hold here because, there’s no surprise in the price because the amount was agreed in priciple by both parties from the start already.
I don’t intend to debate the ‘negotiation of the price’ issue. My point is – in case you did not get it – why are we concerned over the price of the players? That is management’s headache.
(Btw, on the ticket price issue, expect our ticket prices to go up already next season because we paid over the odds for Berbs).
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@Karl: They will as they have every season since the Glaziers have taken over.
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@Karl: First of all, there has been no official statement from either parties about a set price, it’s all just rumours, and we’re commenting on these rumours. The general consensus is unclear as no poll has been taken. I don’t want him to leave, and neither do you, so based on that I can also assume the consensus is split!!
With regards to you questioning the fans’ concern over Player prices, why shouldn’t we? We are fans of the club and we are entitled to our opinions regarding club issues!! On your train of thought, we shouldn’t be worried about anything involving the club, as we have no direct say in it. We should not be worried about formations, performance on the pitch etc as that is the manager’s headache
.
Again, I don’t want Tevez to leave, but neither do I want us to be extorted if there is a chance that we could reduce the price. It’s just an opinion, just like when I comment on United’s performance on the pitch ; I have no direct way of influencing the situation, but I comment about it.
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this man needs his head checked
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=909713
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Its a pity that we have a discussion like this. What happened to all those Tevez lovers last season. The hero who bailed out United almost 5 times from Spurs, Lyon and that all important tying goal at Blackburn…In my opinion that goal pushed the team towards the very end..
In my opinion Fergie should rotate our 3 strikers and can also play 3 of them + Ronaldo in a 4-2-3-1 formation.. Why Berbatov is guaranteed a place in starting 11 and Tevez not..As a team we were never short of goals last season…Why are we looking for goal poachers then???…All the goals scored last season was accurate passing and direct football which was fun to watch and not all tricks,flicks,backheels and “tap-ins”…
United should sign Tevez on a permanent deal..Berbatov is like ’99 Sheringham while Rooney-Tevez can recreate Yorke-Cole combo…
Bottom line : Tevez is simply irreplacable and one of a kind…this guy oozes passion and desire which i think makes United…
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@Karl: I think you are being quite unfair Karl. I have no problem with Tevez other than the price tag and I have to seriously ask the question if he will accept a role on the bench? I am fully aware of what I said about Rooney and I still stand by it. He goes in and out of these streaks of his. Tevez on the other hand never get injured and seems consistent. Problem for me is that as a starter, he doesn’t score enough goals. As a sub, he’s to expensive. So you solve the problem knowing that Fergie will never sit Rooney down for an extended period of time.
I just cannot see Tevez remain happy with that and our chances of signing him the longer we wait is slim and none. And my gut feeling is, that as long as the status quo remains, they don’t really want to sign him. I think they have earmarked that 20 or 30 million for other needs. I like Tevez, believe me I do. But United have Campbell returning next year and they also have Welbeck and Manucho. What they don’t have is the heir to EVDS (Sorry but it’s not Foster). the heir to Scholes (unless Possebon gets a real run out there) and I’m sure they have many questions over the drop in form of one Mr Nani. Also, who knows, Ronaldo may once again kick start the Real Madrid sweepstakes. Tevez will be an expensive surplus on a side that needs that money for other positions. So I am not down on Tevez at all. In fact I’d like to see him start more often. I just don’t see Fergie doing that though. So placing your disappointment on me is unfair and unjust. I am not the enemy here. I’m just calling it as I see it. Don’t shoot the messenger.
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@Karl: Spoken like a truly spoilt fan. Not caring about your team’s financial status is absolutely an extraordinary admission mate. Perhaps you’ll sing another tune if the Glazer’s continue to lose millions on the market and sell the club to Mike Ashley (an exaggeration of course). As a fan I am not just concerned about winning and enjoying the game on the pitch. I care about the health and and fitness of my team both on the field and in the boardroom. I care about all aspects of my club’s performance. Why? Because an unhealthy club (ref; Newcastle) is a cancer to itself, it’s supporters, it’s community, it’s league and it’s country. Sorry you don’t see things that way.
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@Karl: Man you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. What miserable and cranky reaction. Christ you are so cynical and you seem to like talking down to fans who care enough about their team to offer anecdotes even if they are not in a position to be heard. Perhaps you have forgotten that this is a a rant site where people can voice their views, their dream lineups, their criticisms of the club etc.
I’m sorry if it seems like I’m picking on you here Karl but you have never sounded so angry, fed up and cynical towards any of us before. Let supporters say what they want.
If everyone thought like that there would be no fans and certainly RedRants would have to shut down due to lack of interest. Don’t suppress people’s wishes, dreams and fantasies mate. It’s not fair and it’s not kind. We’re not all juveniles here when we talk about the wish for certain players to be on our team. It’s human nature and it’s part of what makes the game off the field interesting also. So, some friendly advice, lighten up a bit. Supporters are not the problem in the game today.
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@RedDevil: I consider myself an expert on WW2 and on the Napoleonic wars but not on WW1 Still, I feel I know a fair amount. Ask away. The worst thing that could happen is an honest I don’t know. Too bad this wasn’t about WW2 or Napoleon. Other than football, I live for that stuff.
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