Jul 09
Thursday links and some pre-almost-weekend mumbling
This will be very short because I am not currently disposed to do a long one right now. So I’ll share some links with you, mumble a few words under my breath and leave the stage to you.
The well respected Andy Brassell, the European expert on BBC’s excellent World Football Phone-in, gives a favourable review of Gabriel Obertan on the official site. He was also on World Soccer Daily yesterday as guest and considered him to be physically suited to the demands of the Premiership. Considering Brassell spent a good part of his life following Ligue 1, I would feel a little encouraged by his assessment.
The man of the moment, Obertan, meanwhile completed possibly the slowest medical and signature in transfer history, as his reported medical took about two days. Allegedly, of course.
Since the fee seems to be in the region of £3m, I think it’s not a bad bit of business.
The Huntelaar stories seem to have gone a bit cold at the moment, although Arnold Muhren gives a ringing endorsement of his compatriot.
The Mirror reports we’re sending Richard Eckersley out on loan to QPR for the rest of the season.
And shockingly, we’re linked today with a move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. I am wondering how to say the world’s biggest “No!” to that flat track bully.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Short Thursday Roundup
- New Links Feature
- Some Links for the Day
- United related links
- United gravy train chugs back after Asian jaunt
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (485)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (347)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
All we need now is klaas and we are ready to go. We will asses in January if anymore signings are needed. PLS no Ibra!!!
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God No!!! I would rather have us sign Heskey than that arrogant tit! He’s a flat track bully with an ego worse than Ronnie!
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i really can’t see us signing Ibrah. this kind of speculation must mean that the press has no idea about who we’ll sign next. I think we might have to wait a bit for the next signing, but i hope its a midfielder.
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I just don’t think you buy Owen and Huntelaar. As with many posters on here, would have loved to have gotten the Dutchman a few years back, but now I think at £20m he’s well overpriced. Plus he’s not guaranteed to start. Doesn’t look realistic to me.
I think Fergie will take the squad he’s got over to Asia now, and see how they look. Obviously we should expect straight forward victories against the opposition we’re playing against, but he can get a feel for team cohesion, understanding of runs and general build up play. Also give everyone a chance to relax and enjoy themselves together.
I’d imagine we’ll soon find out what the squad is that is travelling, but it appears that a good few of the ‘potential’ players will be missing, such as Foster (surgery, Welbeck (knee), Hargo (death), Obertan (ankle) and I’m not sure if Valencia and Campbell will be back from their delayed holidays. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing Rooney and Berbatov in an actual front pairing, as the two of them have such great vision and ability, they’ve gotta click. right?
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Mirror is now a worse tabloid than The Sun. No way Fergie will be considering Ibrahimovic. A midfielder is what we need. As I said before, bringing in Essien would be ideal. I think he would want to play for United. After all, he was a United fan as a kid.
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@Faizan: There is no point talking about Essien, Chelsea will not sell him and will never sell him to us. and he doesn’t want to leave.
Ibrahimobitch is also a non starter, he is an over-rated big game bottler we have no need for him as we have Berba, he is moody and is his own biggest fan, it will never happen thank God.
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I don’t see us making any other signings up front. The only area left is DM but Fergie may wait to see if Hargreaves comes back so may wait until January before deciding to buy in this area.I expect Foster to move to no.1 this season so I hope he comes through.
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Also referring back to the time out medicals are taking with regards to Obertan and Owen, surely this is a good thing wish we did the same with Owen Hargreaves.
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@Stephen: Chelsea’s squad is regressing. If they fail yet again to win a major trophy this season, maybe he will want to leave chelsea next summer. But really there is no harm in bidding 35-40 million for him this summer too, just to unsettle him at Chelsea. City are doing the same thing to Terry.
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@Faizan: It would be pointless, they won’t sell him he doesn’t want to leave and most importantly they will not sell him to us regardless of money.
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Not huntelaar…we should not pay 20 million for a real madrid reject.I reserved my judgement on him because of the poor dutch league which has produced great goalscorers recently such as kezman,kuyt and alves but after right now we cant pay for a striker that would not accept a bench role..Macheda so far has shown the potential to turn into a real top striker and we shouldnt ruin both his welbecks chances by buying huntelaar.Hes a tremendous finisher no doubt but we need a striker that does everything..pace,power,finishing like torres..unfortunately no one like this is available currently(that im aware of).Why dont united use their scouts and pick up a cheap unknown south american that would be ideal.Like they way kaka came out of nowhere.
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Ibrahimovitch has an awesome Champions League goals record of.. Erm.. 0 I think.
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united can not sign zlatan Ibrahamovic as he is 27 now and break the so called “only sign under 26 year old” rule and I do not think zlatan would perfectly fit in our side.As you guys would know for sure as zlatan is known for his certain whining on and off the field and we surely do not want another charlie.
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Stephen…with hargreaves we didnt need a miracle to tell us he was injury prone.Just by his appearance stats we should have known.But anyhow who knows what would have happened we didnt have him to score that freekick against arsenal or put in that performance on the right against.I really hope he makes it because he is too good when hes fit
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We need someone in MF, so my tips:
Raul Garcia (Atletico) great all-round MF, he is young and strong, not as talented as Xavi or Iniesta but hard worker. Would be great in EPL.
Moutinho – great playmaker, everyone knows
Alex Witsel (standar Liege) – also great all-round MF, he can play as a DM, AM, LW, he was superb against Everton and Liverpool.
I think the price of these players could be ok for us. I will take one of these.
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@Stephen: Did you mean like Milan didn’t want to sell Kaka, Kaka didn’t want to leave Milan, and Milan swore never to sell to Real? OR, did you perhaps mean like Barca didn’t want to sell Figo, Figo didn’t want to leave Barca, and Barca swore nevew to sell to Real, regardless of the money? OR maybe you meant like United didn’t want to sell slave, slave promised he was happy at United, and United swore never to sell him to Real?
I’m not quite sure. Can you please explain which one you meant?
I think for the right amount, ANY player is available. I’d say, give it a chance. Put in a massive bid and start unsettling him. He’s worth it.
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Why go for second best? We should take a leave out of Madrid’s books and ONLY go for top choice. We want Essien, we go get Essien! Screw the rest.
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This Obertan kid is the real deal. I can feel it. He looks like a both footed stronger and more aggressive version of Hleb. Great dribbling with both feet and watching him for the U21′s he has the potential to score goals this that explosivity he so obviously posesses. I love the way the squad is shaping up, none of our wingers have any right to call themselves certified starters and that makes it great for competition. Park has the most games from last season and he is the most technically deficient winger we have right now.
Imagine the pace of Valencia and this kid Obertan running onto Berba’s lazy through balls. I am very happy with the business so far. Owen will score at least 10 goals if he gets anywhere near enough minutes. We’re lookin good.
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Guys I need your help in this. Since i live in the middle east, i get to watch every single man utd game live, the premier league through showtime, the champions league through ART, and the fa cup and carling cup through Al jazeera. Out of the 66 games man utd played last year, i wathced 65 of them, the one i missed was the one between QPR and Manutd carling cup game because that wasnt even broadcasted. I am moving to england next year, specifically manchester, and i was wondering will I get to watch every man utd game live on tv, if i get all the channels possible? Or at least every live premier league game?
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Mike…get mutv ul watch everygame
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One thing that has happen with the way united have dealt in there transfers it has cooled of the prices a bit not only at agents and club level but also at media level. Remember there were quotes like Ibra is worth 70 million if Ribery is worth n million. I mean today they are talking about 30 million. Why do you thing this has happened because of a simple fact that Fergi is pulling out signings which in nobodies dreams so everyone is kinda unsure about what he is gonna do.
I mean this time Fergi has acted very smart by signings of OWEN and Orbetan he made sure that world will feel that the 80 million which could have inflated the market is not coming in it. So, due to lesser anticipated liquidity prices are cooling of.
Now, i don’t be surprise one high value signing coming but that will come in a sudden fashion i feel because he wont allow market to get over heated and over Priced.
I mean i hope that someone big is coming specially at CM. BTW i agree with whoever is saying that we should try and BID fior Essien the Beast. Just try and unsettled him and Chelsea and then see how they react.
I mean no harm in trying. I would be happy if we getting him for 45-50 million.
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hell no to Ibra. we jus need a box to box midfielder then cross fingers for hargo to recover fully. The squad is still thea and that is what will win us the league again. if we buy essien, i personally promise to chauffer him from london.
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@mike:
No, you will not get all matches live.If you subscribed to all channels last season I think you would have seen about 40 matches and would have cost about £50 a month. MuTV shows all matches in full but these are not “live”
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andy brasells interview gives us hope bout ober but until I have seen him on the pitch and doing it for United, i will not judge
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Papa Boupa Diop anyone? I think he could be a good signing…
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Ibra won’t be coming to Utd. Before Ronaldo and Kaka left for Madrid he was the highest paid player in the world. He wouldn’t come anyway for a 60% reduction in wages.He’d be better off at Man City… after all they are short of strikers
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To all who live near Manchester and to those who go to Old Trafford for our home games, I currently live in Saudi Arabia and Im planning a UK visit around November/December and I would really love to go to United match at Old Trafford but I have no clue how, please help a fellow Red Devil fanatic.
It would be a dream come true to see my reds in action, please help me.
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@RedDevilEddy: Ha papa boupa the wardrobe as he was known by the fulham fans, not a bad player tbh, remember when we were linked with him 05/06 i think was probs worth a punt then but probably not now, i dunno whats happended to the guy now though tbh, is he still at pompey?
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so does fergy read this blog, I think he should coz he’ll see how we all think the missing piece of our puzzle to win the championz league is a box to box midfielder, the league am comfortable with squad but in Europe, we need a strong starting 11
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@Cyclops-Red: wow
Then where can I catch the rest,, will they be shown on the net?
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@Hannoodi: Best way to get tickets for a game at old trafford is to become a member which i think you can become on the united website. I did it a while ago, basically how it was then you paid a £30 fee and if for whatever reason a couple of tickets became available for a game you would be told and notified as to whether you wanted to take up the option of getting the tickets. Thing is when i did it bout 3 years ago i only got the tickets about 3 times at OT so it is pretty hard but for like £30 its probably worth it.
But if you just want to see united play and your not bothered about it actually being at OT grounds which are particularly easy to get tickets for in London if your there are fulham, spurs i found pretty easy and believe it or not stamford bridge. A mate of mine got tickets at those grounds pretty easy so if u end up in london, fulham especially u will find very easy to get tickets for.
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@Matt: Yes, thats exactly what they told me when I sent an email to the United website, thanks anyway and I will probably do that I will be staying in London for the most part and I think there is a Westham game at that time.
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@Hannoodi: getting tickets at OT is hard if you don’t mind going away i go to villa park every year only costs £15 and and i always get a ticket
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@Karl: Real expolted a buy out clause in Figo’s contract, Kaka lost faith in Milan after they accepted the offer from Citeh in Jan, Ronaldo was already promised his dream move last summer we were just getting the price as high as posible.
Essien is happy at Chelsea and said only Barca and Real would tempted him away, Chelsea are run by a billionaire who’s ego and financial situation mean he would not need of want to sell the player, if you really think he is gettable then you are deluding yourself, this is not Championship manager mate.
Be realistic Chelsea do not want to sell, he does not want to leave, Chelsea don’t have to sell, so there is no deal to be done mate, they are not run as a business but as a play thing, sorry to disapoint, I would rather we spent our time trying to get players who are available, not ones which are not.
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@mike:
Basically, yes if you can put up with rubbish quality.
Welcome back to rip off Britain!
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@Hannoodi: Mate you will possibly get a ticket for Carling Cup game or an early group game for the Champions league as those games don’t always get sold out.
You could always go to ticketmaster or Ticket Solutions and pay over the odds ect and pay over the top maybe £100 or so.
Being from Saudi with all that oil money mate you are not should of a few quid
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Talksport (who were way ahead of everyone else on Tevez’s Citeh move, and had the Owen news before anyone else) are reporting that Chelsea have made a bid for Aguero, and that if it gets accepted United are going to match it. As he is a United fan, we should get the nod over Chelsea…. but we all know how that worked out with Essien
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Also, in a move I would much prefere… Villa are signing Downing and Tuncay and looking at Bentley, which would suggest Ashley Young is off. I might go and ask him actually, he lives just down the road from me… As Eric Cantona is is favourite player, offer him the 7 shirt and then it’s cocks out time.
VDS
Rafael Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Valencia Carrick Hargreaves Young
Rooney Berbatov
S: Foster, Brown, Evans, Anderson, Park, Nani, Owen
A man can dream……
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Aguero isn’t worth the money. And we shouldn’t try to compete financially with Chelsea, they’ll always be able to one up us. Should get players that want to come.
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@Traverse: We never really got it in for Essien – at the time we could not match the 27 million asking price (because we spent that money on Rooney the previous summer). Anyway that bit of news is quite promising…
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@Beachryan: We don’t have to compete with them, we have to match the 45 million asking price then we are in talks with the player…
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is modric so bad that there is no fuss abt him in the market??
i really like that player
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aguero deserves the demand..he can easily replace the goals of ronaldo or evan of both ronaldo and tevez
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@Stephen: I’ve learnt in life…EVERYONE has a price! and secondly, EVERYTHING is negotiable.
Abramovich wants to make Chelsea profitable. For this, their first aim is to break-even asap. Trust me, if the right price came along, he would defo consider it. After all, its just business.
One possible – although very unlikely – scenario, we take the 80m from Ronaldo and bid it on Essien. They would be stupid not to take it. They can then take that 80m and add their current 50m bid and REALLY tempt Ribery from Bayern. I know this is FM stuff, but just to show, that everyone has his price. Even Abramovich.
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Hopefully he makes this move (sorry Grog)
http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2009/07/09/1373032/real-madrid-striker-klaas-jan-huntelaar-ponders-stuttgart
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@Karl: Paying £80m on a defensive midfield player would simply be stupid regardless of how good he is.
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@Stephen: Essien is one of the best players in the world – at least as valuable as Kaka if not worth the 80 mil Ronaldo claimed…
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@andrei
how much u guess fergie will be ready to pay for aguero
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@owen: whatever Chelsea pay. I’d imagine less than his buyout clause that we could have activated at any point in the last 3 weeks…
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