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All Smoke, Little Fire on the Transfer Front

The cynical among us have come to accept this. The optimistic claim this is a smokescreen.

Either which way you look at it, at the moment there is no transfer activity to report. There’s little one can update the blog with, other than “Nothing new to report on the transfer front.”

Of course, if one considers the non-football aspect of the club, then there’s plenty to talk about.

Today, Panorama will air (on BBC for UK viewers) a documentary on the Glazer family, their ownership, the financial situation at the club. Some feelers are already all over the media with BBC prominently giving us bullet points on what to expect today. The Guardian, led by David Conn, also has a couple of lead stories on the amount of debt the Glazer family have saddled themselves with — not just the club, but also their own family in their other business ventures in America; most notably, their failing strip mall business.

From one depressing thought back to another, albeit far less, depressing thought: our transfer business this season has included Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling, but it’s debatable what role they will play this season.

Of immediate concern is the midfield which badly needs work. We have been linked with Joe Cole, Rafael van der Vaart, and today, with Lassanna Diarra. I would rule Joe Cole out simply because I doubt we’d ever pay £120,000/week for an injury-afflicted 28-year old. While he would just be an excellent addition to the starting XI, the wages just don’t justify the signing, given our current financial situation (and despite this being a free transfer).

Rafael van der Vaart, on the other hand, is a player I like. Career blighted by injuries, he could be a quality addition to our midfield, and given a longer run than afforded at Real Madrid he would be a wonderful signing.

Lassanna Diarra is also a much better defensive midfielder than what we have at the moment; assuming Hargreaves’ continues to have a stop-start season. His attitude problems have dogged him in the past. The rumours doing the rounds involves his past clashes with Mourinho and lack of playing time that saw him transferred out of Chelsea.

This would appear cliched to say that we must wait and watch, but really we can’t do much. My suggestion: watch the World Cup, enjoy it to the fullest, and treat any positive activity on the club’s transfer front a bonus. It’s a good thing the World Cup is around to take our mind off all things Manchester United. In the coming days, I’ll probably share a few links to sites you must follow during the World Cup.