Jul 02
Time to move on after Benzema snub
United signed Valencia, but their intent to go blitzkrieg on the transfer market suffered a blow when Benzema opted to go to Real Madrid. Reports say they were willing to pay £6m more than us. This can mean either of two things: one, we were trying to play hardball with them while staying firm in our [new found] commitment towards not getting fleeced. Two, we didn’t really expect Madrid to act so quickly so as to have gazumped us to this bid.
If it was the second it’s a shame. If it was the former, I’m not sure how to react to it; I am torn between lauding them for not paying £32m for a largely unproven, albeit talented, 21 year old and expressing bafflement over their refusal to budge on £6m when we have £90m lying around. [Correct me if I'm wrong, but Fraizer Campbell's this close towards completing a £6m move to Hull.]
Personally, whilst I liked Benzema, the player, I never really found his general demeanour endearing. For one, he seemed to favour a move to Spain more than England. He was known to be moody, although I wouldn’t rate that quite as important as the first reason.
It’s obvious Ferguson loves the player, and what Ferguson likes he tries his level best to get. Predictably, a good performance against us — in particular, his blinder of a goal in the 07/08 Champions’ League encounter when surrounded by gazillion red shirts — nailed it for the manager. Only on this occasion, Ferguson didn’t get what he wanted. It’s also unlikely waiting a year for his target is bound to work this time; unlike RvN, Berbatov et al.
Our current situation resembles that line from the Rime of the Ancient Mariner: ‘water water everywhere, not a drop to drink‘ (More like money, money everywhere, not a player in sight.) Of course, there is still enough time to bring in two players to get us going before things actually escalate towards desperation but it would be a stretch to expect to bring in everyone by the cut off pre-season training date that is July 13th.
We have been linked with the likes of Aguero and AS, the Spanish newspaper, have us linked with Huntelaar. Bringing in Huntelaar should be easier, provided Ferguson really wants him. Hell, if he really wanted him, he would have come in long before Madrid even had a sniff. Aguero gives us star power, real creative energy around the box, although, if Rooney is to be played in his preferred role, the Argentinian would have to be played out wide.
Despite all this transfer talk, I really have two major concerns that need to be addressed. Which is what I want to end this post with.
1. Rooney needs a full season where he can play in a central role. I think Ferguson has little excuse to sacrifice Rooney this time round. There’s no Ronaldo to ‘accommodate’ in this team anymore. Rooney plays in the role he plays for England. No dicking about sticking him in the wing. Most of Ferguson’s rebuilding exercises have revolved around switching focus and building the side around that focus. It could be based on a good strike partnership, like the side of ’99; or relying on the interchangeable play of the front attackers, [the 2008 side with Ronaldo as a focal point]. This time attention obviously shifts to Rooney, and he needs to be played as a number ten. So why am I talking about Rooney in the midst of discussing transfer targets? In order to ensure Rooney does not get played out wide, we need to ensure there is enough credible depth on our wings. We have Valencia and Nani (and a rookie in Tosic) as attacking wingers (Park is a defensive midfielder, and Giggs is not a left winger anymore). We clearly need reinforcement there. Aguero might help, but his talent could be wasted out wide. So one more decent winger should fix that worry.
2. A box to box midfielder, or an attacking midfielder who’s capable of scoring from midfield.
The first one ties into the lesson learned from our defeat against Barcelona. Despite our success, we haven’t really got a midfielder who can grab the game by the cliched scruff of the neck. We have Hargreaves, but he’s not back until January. And I really won’t believe his fitness reports until I see him on the pitch. True Fletcher had his moments, but doubts still linger over his consistency.
The second part, regarding the need for a creative attacking midfielder, sort of ties in to our need to spread the goals around this season instead of relying on a couple of players. But this is an either-or requirement. I wouldn’t want both to be signed simultaneously. This would mean Carrick would be marginalised, or if we were to go for a 4-3-3, Rooney would be forced to plough a lone furrow on his own — again, not something I’d want.
Anyway, that should be enough tactical analysis from my side for the day. for general transfer stories, half baked thoughts during the day, you could either find me here, or in the comments section of this post.
* * *
In other interesting tidbits, Scott sheds more light on the scouse delusion.
And 101 Great Goals has a three part video link to MUTV’s Ronaldo tribute video. To be honest, despite my strong opinions over the deterioration of his attitude over the past year, there are still enough clips in the video to make me relive some of those special moments with fondness; especially the parts where he was a scrawny, little teenager.
Related items from Red Rants:
- The Karim of the Crop?
- Transfer Talk: Lahm and Benzema | Evra’s Contract
- Teams Start Talking Big As Champions’ League Clash Looms
- Benzema, Benzema and more Benzema. But it’s only talk.
- Breaking News: United accept 80m Ronaldo bid
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (485)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (347)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
RR, We never lost Benzema because of the money. In the end the player holds the cards and decides where he goes. United could have offered 50 million and Benzema was going to go to Real Madrid anyway. Fergie and United knew that once Madrid made a serious bid the jig was up and they had lost. Their only chance was to get him from under the noses of Madrid while they were pursuing Villa. But why didn’t that happen? Because Fergie was in France getting pissed on wine and vacationing. Perhaps now people will see that what I was saying about his vacations being the end of us is actually true. When Fergie goes on holidays, they put bed sheets over all the furniture at OT and lock the doors. While he sleeps or gets pissed, we missed our slim opportunity to beat Madrid to the punch. But then again, I really don’t believe Benzema had any intention of coming to United. He was just playing us to get Madrid to act and make a move.
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Breaking: Ribery signs for Madrid!!! Source: Gut feeling.
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@Madschester United: Source more like, Ribery himself.
His quote from his interview to L’Equipe:
“I have made up my mind, I want to leave. It will be Real or nothing.”
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We could have paid 26m and could signed Torres when he was 20 or 21.His talents were there to see.Benzema is the same case.We were interested in him but never bother to act.Why can’t we pay 35m for him? we have the money,we did spend 31.5m on Berba and Benzema is much younger than him,so he has resale value.We signed Anderson for 17m,a huge gamble.We are linked with Douglas costa,who for me is worse than nani,he is very raw.We certainly need to replace the goals Ronaldo scored and i dont think Rooney and Berba can cover that.
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@Sunny: With Torres we tried to sign him but couldn’t get anywhere to say his talents were there to see that is partly true but in his final two seasons for Atletico he scored 13 and 15 goals in 40 games each season, so spending big money on him was a gamble.
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@Sunny: We can never instantly replace Ronaldo’s goals. Rebuilding takes time. Aguero and Huntelaar are viable alternatives. Aguero is proven in La Liga as well as in the international stage.
Also I never saw Benzema coming to United. I was actually surprised we were that close. Also we delayed over Benzema because he only returned a couple of days ago from his holiday and he wasn’t willing to commit to anything till he returned. Real are on a roll, and I seriously doubt we can snare any player in the current climate until the player himself wants to come to us.
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@Sunny: Errrr Sunny, the latest from Lyons announcement is, that Real Madrid had already offered 30 million for Benzema and a prospective deal had been agreed. Then Man UNited came in and offered 35 million, but Real Madrid talks had progressed to the point of agrrement between the clubs. However United’s 6 million MORE offered to Lyon threw a spoke in the wheel, but Real agreed to pay the extra to meet United’s ATTEMPT TO GAZZUMP REAL. So contrary to popular media belief, it wasn’t United who were GAZZUMPED, but United were the ones trying to GAZZUMP the Real Madrid deal
. The ABU’s will always try to say Real did us though, because it suits their purposes to denounce UNited, as that is always their agenda 
.
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@Stephen: Mate,Rooney never scored many goals,even when playing for us,i think his highest is 23.Torres had the same attributes that rooney had,his 2 goals were never the same and his overall attributes were great.And for Benzema,i think having him in our team will make rooney even better.Another thing is there arent many quality strikers available on the market,its better to spend some money on benzama than on 27 year old Villa or overrated fabiano.Furthermore,we have shown interest in him from a long time ago,so why dont we make Lyon a offer they cant refuse,we have the bloody money
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@Sunny: I agree matey but Rooney was younger and not such a gamble as was English and played 45 mins up the road, Fergie did not buy for his goals as we had Ruud still but for what he could bring to the side, but get your point.
Benzema only had eyes for Real so for us to sign firstly would have been difficult but in a few years time if we had signed him we would be in the Ronaldo “dream of Real” issue again.
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@Sunny: You don’t get it mate, Benzema WANTS TO GO TO REAL, no matter how much we offer
. He is a Zidane fanatic, Zidane is his idol, and he works for Real Madrid recruiting players, especially french players, so Benzema and Ribery were always going to go to Real M.
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@Sunny: Here’s Lyon’s official statement:
“A few days ago, Karim Benzema informed president Jean Michel Aulas of his wish to join Madrid, which has always been his preference after Lyon, quicker than it was initially considered. The player wished to seize the opportunity that was offered to him by Real, which was to be one of the major elements of the club’s new, ambitious policy built around some of the largest players in the world. Lyon accepted the decision of Karim Benzema and negotiated the conditions of a transfer which satisfy the various elements. [...]“
If the player prefers Real, then we can’t pay Lyon 50m and kidnap Benzema to OT.
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We need to get over the thought that we should only bring players who want to play for united.There are a billion of them,me inclusive,but the worthy ones may not have us as a dream team and still do the job ala Ronaldo.
Character off the field should not be any ones concern as aside from being footballers,they are different beings with different traits
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@Red Ranter: No one player can replace the goals Ronaldo scored,so we need to even out the responsibilty of scoring and at the moment we only have Rooney and Berba as goal threats.Berba being slow,i dont expect him to play at Centre Forward position and score 30 goals a season and we all know Rooney’s best position is in the ‘hole’.
I totally agree with your point about a creative or box2box midfielder.We need more goals from midfield.
SO,you are saying that we cant compete with madrid in signing players even when we have 90m cash and have been in the champions league final 2 years in a row.We are left with Valencia’s of this world when Madrid are signing every top player
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@Sunny: Real Madrid for some players is the eutopia in football, if a player has a preference in signing for one club over another then what can you do mate?
Real also have to try and make this side work, having the best players available doesn’t necessary make you have the best team, the previous Glactico’s had initial success but it did not continue.
I would rather have players who fit into our system and actually want and care for the club.
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@Sunny: Yes we can’t compete with Real despite having the money. We can only do things we are good at: 1. Going after players who would actually like to play for us. and 2. picking out the best promising talent and nurturing them for a few years, before they eventually eff off to Spain
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I have been in doubt about Benzema for a while now. While I wanted the player at Old Trafford, the person and the “Madrid-fan Aura” is something I never want to see at Old Trafford again! Tevez, despite all he says about loving our fans, was a dick. Ronaldo, a brilliant player who showed us loyalty for a few years, always wanted to go to Real. Now those two have left. We have Valencia, who chose us over Real. Other players that will bleed for this kit now is Rooney, Carrick, Vidic, Fletcher, Berbatov, Anderson, Brown, Rio and so on. All in their own way, but they truly love the club!
So Benzema and Ribery can fuck off for all I care. The only thing that bothers me is the way Real Madrid are ruining world football!!!
If I was president of FIFA, I would ban them from competing in every possible competition and reduct them points. They have spent over fucking £200 million on 4 players! 4 PLAYERS!!! 
Its amazing that PLatini and Blatter dont do anything about this, but because we all know what kind of fuck-ups they are Im not too surprised. But still, somehow I am baffled about this… 
I hope they end up outside of a CHmapions League spot and lose their group! 
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@Red Ranter: If that is the case,we cant really do anything.
@donibrasco: I agree with you. Ronaldo’s attitude had everything to do with his upbringing and his character and I think Benzama had a better educational and social environment.So,my point is if we could signed him,he wouldnt do such things in the future that Ronaldo did.
“only God knows……….”
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SInce the Real scum look like signing up anyone in world football who says he wants to play for them, our only options are to go after players who want to play for us, meaning we go after English players or players who Real have no interest in.
FOr striker, I am going to throw down a name….Eidur Gudjohnsen.
He’s cheap, experienced in the PL, wont mind sitting on the be
bench, is versatile and will be a great tutor for Kiko and Danny.
As far as midfield goes, I would like to see Mark Noble, who I think is a cracking player, and/or Mikel Arteta and Lennon/Young for cover in the wings..
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I realy hope Frazier Campbell stays now… If he leaves, we are stuck with only Macheda and Welbeck as back-ups. Im not saying that it catastrophic, but it will be difficult for us. I still feel we need another striker, someone who wont be dissapointed with rotating and that cna score every tyoe of goal. I only see one player that fits that bill, and that is Huntelaar. Real are having a massive sell-out, and I dont see why we shouldnt at least make a bid for him…
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@Sunny: Benzema grew up to Algerian immigrant parents in a tough neighbourhood. I don’t know what educational background you are talking about here.
@donibrasco: In Benzema’s case he had a clear cut preference. So I think we can’t beat up ourselves over not being able to sign him. When a player chooses a club, when given the choice, we can’t really complain. And when I said players who want to come to us, I was referring to the quality players — not any random player who wanted to play for us. That also included those who didn’t have a particular preference of club/country. Most players really want glory, but a good number of them are also whiny pricks like Jose Reyes in Arsenal.
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@RedDevilEddy: Don’t forget Manucho the saviour.
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@RedDevilEddy:
Hasnt a deal already been agreed for Campbell with Hull?
As far as the Hunter goes, I doubt Real will sell to us. They will now consider us as enemy no.1 after all those Fergie quotes, and try to hamper our every move in the transfer Market. I mean look at Valencia- we had to pay some 5 mill more just because of rumors that Real were interested.
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@Stephen: Totally agree mate,Real is a circus.But its very disappointing to me,because we really started to rule Europe the way we never did before.I want United to surpass Ac Milan and Real so that Those Spanish dicks can never claim to be the best club on earth.We have to be more lethal in these sort of dealings because i want the next generation of footballers to dream about playing for United and only United
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@Red Ranter: RR there is the other part of the Lyon statement, which is what I shared with you in my other post, where the United bid was mentioned, and considered, and was MORE than the Real M negotiated bid, but the player wanted Real M and so when Real M agreed to meet United’s they continued with the already agreed transfer they had with Real M BEFORE United came in with their huge offer. So your right, our attemp to GAZZUMP Real M was never going to get a player whose heart was in Madrid!
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@Red Ranter: If so, we are screwed!
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@Sunny: We can be as LETHAL as a stealth bomber mate, but if players hearts are in Madrid there is NO MONEY IN THE WORLD can persuade otherwise. We are only going to get players whose heart is towards United, or who are young, and come to us for a few years if they are latins, until they go follow their heart when they become BIG after becomming accomplished at OT.
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I’m gutted he didn’t join but I don’t think you can blame the club. It doesn’t matter whether we offerred more money or less. He wanted to go to Madrid.
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@donibrasco: Manchester United has a very, very strong identity and history, it is time to reinforce this identity, to differentiate from the nouveau riche clubs.
Love for the club is essential…otherwise United will lose its identity and will become just another bider alongside City and Chelsea…
Now Ronaldo is gone I would personally like the team to play as one…it’s in the the name…United
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K so basically what your all saying is loyalty in football is simply non existent and that players such as anderson, nani, possebon, fabio and rafael are all going to leave OT when they become acomplished??
Well only “Go Knows” right lol.
Other than Aguero and Huntelaar i guess there are other talenst such as the likes of Sanchez, Costa but to be honest who else???. Can anyone name a proven box to box midfielder who would wnat nothing more than to join United?? cus im strugling their??
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Obviously there are some missing elements for the team to work properly as a team right now. Forcefulness and stamina in midfield is just for starters.
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@Julio: What about Hamsik?
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Chinese proverb says “Hottest babe doesn’t always make best wife”
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I really can’t understand this gung ho about Benzema and all. I mean any person on this blog was always knowing that Real ‘the mob’ Madrid was his preferred destination. But, still Fergi blindly tried taking him. So, i don’t think missing out on him should create such raw as it what more than expected.
Secondly about this strikers issue i am totally with VIVEK. As he has mentioned since long back i have been mentioning this thing. We need to understand the teams requirements rather than just saying that we need a world class player like Benzema, Kun etc. I mean common guys we have two strikers who if gelled properly can blossom into a very productive as well as an attractive partnership in this league. But, for that we need to give them at least a season. So, what i have been mentioning for long now is we need third striker and not the player who will come at a cost of 30 million +.
So, as i have had a chat before stephan that he wasn’t agreeing to we need some stop gap arrangement like we had with Henrik Larsson. We need someone like Eidur Gudjohnsen, Van the Man, or even Owen for that matter. All of them are proven goal scorers. Won’t complain if they seat on the bench and will definitely serve purpose with 15 goals a season in all competition. I am no where saying that we should go for these players but all i am saying is we should go for some arrangement like this which will allow us balance in the first team. Moreover i am a great believer in the ability Kiko and Danny, but as we all know they still cople of season away to be regd as a first team material so some arrangement will make sure that we are easing them into team rather than asking them to enter them into cut throat competition which may hamper there progress.
So now am i saying we dont need a world class player than. No, but what we need a world class or very promising midfielder. So, either we can go for a class DM like since day one i am have been raving De Rossi (i know it mission impossible but just to illustrate my definition of world class) or some one like Box to box form who can provide some goals from midfield ala BALLACK (again just an example).
I strongly believe our rebuilding should start this way. I am not putting any targets in this as we can fight about names all day long but i am definitely looking at the positions which i would like to strengthen in certain way…
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Benzema made the wrong choice, he is 21 and still developing and madrid is the worst place to develop your talent, its either deliver instantly or get out, but he will soon realize that his dream team isnt so great after all.
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@Julio: Box to box centre midfield players are a dying breed they either not sit like Toulalan or De Rossi who would be great or go forward but the are rare and expensive.
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@Onkar: the way ronaldo was thrown into the deep end after the departure of becks is what should be done with kiko and danny, the talent is there and what that will do to them is add resposibilty and maturity. if they are as good as we all say they are, let them take up responsibility and help build the next generation of united after ronaldo. Isnt pato 19yrs doing the same for Milan and as rumours go, when he comes to chelsea he wont be eased in but thrown straight to the action.
RR I agree with the last 2 points in the post. need for Rooney to be played upfront and buying a box to box midfielder.
also lets all remember that for the last couple of season, we havent bought mo than 2 players in 1 transfer market except when we bought nani,ando and hargo all at the same time, This to mean that for success we really dont need to buy the way real are doing at the moment, lets all remember that what won us the league was the strength of our squad not individuals and I still believe in the the squad we got.with the inclusion of valencia.
its time for Ando and nani to step up to the plate this coming season.
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Word on the street is that we are in talks with Michael Owen…
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Interviewer: And to end this interview, let me ask you a personal question. How’s things with your wife, not so good we hear? Seems you’re upset cos she fakes them..you know..
Ribery: Yeah, I have made up my mind, I want to leave. It will be real or nothing.
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@antsBoy:
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@magno: Football has changed to a new game altogether.Where are you going to find Two stars that are not English and love United?Hell even Tevez declared his love!
Every player is happy as long as he lasts and enjoys favours only to open his mouth after losing the favours and has moved on.
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@donibrasco: And that’s exactly the opposite direction Ronaldo took. Odd…
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@ROOOOONEY: I still dont understand how someone can say someone else has made a ‘wrong choice’ before they’ve been given a chance to succeed (or fail). Remember, only hindsight is 20/20. I personally believe he will do well at Madrid. There’s no pressure for him there. If RM dont win, nobody will blame ‘cheap’ Benz, only Superstar’s Kaka and CR9 will shoulder that. Plus, how will he NOT be able to do well with both those player, and I’m sure a couple more, feeding him and taking defenders away. The only troubles I forsee with him going to RM is that he might get lost in the shadows, much like Huntelaar has, and then he’ll want away.
PS. Not too sure he would have worked here either.
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Oh God we are going to sign an Owen who is injury prone and was good in Munich once………… haven’t we been there before!
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I dont think huntelaar is lost in the shadows, he was phased out cause raul looked stupid playing along side huntelaar.
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@Stephen: Realistically, that’s not really a bad thing. Granted Owen isn’s exactly made of stone, but we need cover, and someone who can lead the line. He can do both, and with him coming here he wont have to be the ‘savior.’ hopefully he’ll be content coming off the bench though.
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noo not owen….
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@BAMF: I am justing reporting what I have heard, will be intersting to say the least if it did happen, similar to the Sheringham signing I would say out of left field.
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@ROOOOONEY: That’s what I meant. Benzema wont be THE star at Madrid, and he will get dropped for anyone else on that team. I certainly will not argue that united probably would have developed him to be a great player, but I wont say he will be a flop at Madrid because of that.
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@Stephen: I understand, and appreciate that reporting. But honestly, it gives us another ‘english player’ while providing cover. I don’t think anyone will expect him to come in and play every game leading the line. I will say that back when he wanted out of RM, it was a mouth watering prospect having him play in front of Rooney. Now, (hopefully) he’ll be third choice and Berbatov and Rooney will form a great partnership. I just don’t think it would be as bad as people think, glass or not, I rate him as much as Saha.
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well all we can do is wait and see, they have a lot of egos now and they dont look like stopping to add few more. but we shouldnt be negative anyways, what they are getting two of our targets and they didnt want to play for us, ribery looks like a madrid player already, its only benefiting us by targeting the ones who really want to play for manchester united. hopefully those will do us good.
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