Everything is on course, Tevez will sign. He will wont he?
October 7, 2008
Manchester United have moved to dismiss rumours that there is a hold up in the deal to permanently sign Carlos Tevez. Tevez is currently in his second year at Old Trafford after a controversial 2 year loan deal was agreed in August 2007. The club have made clear it’s intentions to make the deal permanent and the player himself has stated his desire to commit his long term future to the club.
A spokesman for the club today reiterated this stance: “David Gill told the papers in South Africa in July that we would hope to conclude a deal with Carlos before the new year. That is still our aim. The clocks haven’t even gone back yet, so to talk of delays is nonsense. Both the club and Carlos are relaxed about the situation.”
Of course the club are bound to deny any hold up but one can only wonder if there is any truth to these stories. Rumours have been lingering that Tevez is unhappy that the club have not yet made him an offer to extend his stay and with the arrival of Berbatov, is Tevez going to spend most of his time on the sidelines?
Tevez was arguably United’s best player in what was a slow start to the campaign and was rewarded for his efforts by being dropped. It is starting to look like there will be space for either Rooney or Tevez in the starting line up – not both. And with Fergie seemingly unable to drop Rooney (admittedly, his form has improved a lot), will Carlos always be an impact player at Old Trafford?
At 23 years old, Tevez is not going to be happy about that. As much as he states he wants to play for United, he’ll look elsewhere before committing to 4 years on the bench. And another thing, isn’t £30 million a heck of a lot to pay for a substitute?
Alex Ferguson finally gets his man. Dimitar Berbatov signs for Manchester United
September 2, 2008
The final hours of the transfer window didn’t pass quietly as Manchester United didn’t quite pull of the deal of the season. United finally completed the signing of long time target Dimitar Berbatov and reports suggest the Bulgarian striker will take the shirt of outgoing Saha; number 9.
At little after half eleven on Monday 1st September, the club announced on manutd.com:
“Manchester United are delighted to announce the signing of Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian international striker, 27, has signed a four-year contract after joining from Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee.”
Manchester United had previously refused to meet Tottenham’s £30 million valuation of the player with reports initially claiming United were only prepared to pay £25 million and later even up to £28 million. Spurs indicated £30 million or nothing so it was a case of who would crumble first. United ended up paying a reported £30.75 million; a real coup for the bargaining men at Old Trafford. Spurs also agreed to drop the complaint over United’s pursuit of Berbatov and to seal the deal, it looks like Fraizer Campbell is going on a season long loan to White Hart Lane.
United lost bargaining power when Manchester City entered the equation with a £30 million plus offer. There were even reports of Real Madrid making a “record breaking offer” but that never materialised. In a bizarre twist, Manchester City have a new owner, someone from the ruling family of Abu Dhabi no less; a man with more money than Abramovich. City unsuccessfully tried to hijack United’s move for Berbatov whilst also bidding £32.5 million for Real Madrid’s Robinho in an attempt to steal the forward from under the noses of Chelsea. Unfortunately for Chelsea, their bid was successful and Robinho will now be strutting his stuff at the City of Manchester Stadium this season. Unbelievable I know.
Fraizer Campbell’s loan spell in North London should prove a great opportunity for the 20 year old Striker. Tottenham had only Darren Bent and new boy Roman Pavlyuchenko up front before the arrival of Campbell so the youngster has plenty of opportunity to show what he can do.
Speaking to manutd.com, Dimitar Berbatov said “Joining Manchester United is a dream come true for me. I look forward to playing my part in helping this club win more honours in the years to come.”
Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted to have finally gotten his man and said: “This is a key signing. Dimitar is one of the best and most exciting strikers in world football. His style and ability will give the team a different dimension and I’m sure he will be a popular player with the fans.”
Dimitar Berbatov scored 46 goals in 102 appearances for Tottenham and fee aside, could prove to be vital in the team’s defence of both the Premier League and Champions League titles.
With the news that Cristiano Ronaldo is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation it wont be long till United unleash a deadly strike force; Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov and Tevez. I see plenty of goals at Old Trafford this season.
No Berbatov means no striker; what on earth have the scouts been doing?
August 22, 2008
It looks like United have put all their eggs in one basket this summer and if we fail to sign Berbatov, we fail to sign a striker. I am somewhat surprised that with such a clear need for an out and out striker, the scouts of United have managed to pinpoint only one potential target. Yes we are always hearing paper talk linking us with a Huntelaar, a Benzema or the once great Gooner Thierry Henry but when it comes down to it, if Spurs wont budge on the crazy £30 million price tag they have put on Berbatov’s head, it looks like we’ll be defending our title with a smaller squad than we had last term.
After last summer’s early transfer activity, most of us were expecting any summer dealings to be wrapped up pretty sharpish but no such deals have been made; instead we have heard all summer that things are happening on the transfer front. On more than one occasion, Ferguson has stated his expectance of an arrival in the striker department, however today when asked how he is feeling compared to a couple of weeks ago, Ferguson replied:
“I’m feeling less optimistic right now. We are looking at something, but if it doesn’t come off then we will carry on as we are.”
There is no questioning the quality of our current squad but how many goal machines do we have? Ronaldo is one, but he is injured at the moment and not a striker. Wayne Rooney is coming back to fitness but is not the 25 goal a season striker we need and Tevez is a very similar player. Both bring a lot to the club, but with the right team around them could offer so much more. To back them up we have Saha who if he could stay fit would ease our minds but we all know he’ll be injured for at least half the season. Then there is Fraizer Campbell who looks like he can be a great striker but is far too young and inexperienced to be considered a regular in the team.
Take out Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez and last year’s scoring chart looks less than a bit dismal. Saha managed five goals, Nani bagged four and our top scorer after that was Rio Ferdinand with 3 (Giggs also hit 3). In Fact, without Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo, the rest of the squad managed just 28 goals between them.
What we need is another Van Nistelrooy and the arrival of any such player will not only bring more goals to our club but will allow both Rooney and Tevez to play their games. When you have two fantastic players who are so good playing off the front man, it seems almost criminal to have no front man!
Danny Simpson joins Blackburn on season long loan
August 5, 2008
Paul Ince has only been a Premier League manager for a few weeks but he has already tapped into the pool of United talent as Danny Simpson has agreed to a season long loan a Blackburn.
With Wes Brown having had what was arguably is best season at United last term and the return to fitness of Gary Neville, the highly rated right back will be restricted in his appearances for the Reds this year and Fergie has decided to give the player an opportunity to get some Premier League experience under his belt by loaning him out to Blackburn.
Simpson has already had loan spells at Antwerp, Sunderland and Ipswich as well as making 8 appearances for United, 3 of which in the Champions League. This latest loan spell could be the one which catapults Simpson into the frame for United’s right back position with Neville closing in on retirement and Simpson will be looking to be a prominent force in the Rovers’ defence.
Eagles flies the nest
July 30, 2008
Christopher Eagles has left Manchester United for Championship side Burnley in a deal believed to be worth £1.2 million. After recently declaring he was prepared to fight for his place in the United line up, it seems the lure of regular football, albeit in a lower division, was too strong as the winger signed a 3 year deal at Burnley.
Eagles signed for United when he was 14 but has never been able to make the step up and never looked like becoming a regular in the appearances he did make for the club.
Eagles played a prominent role in United’s pre season and scored against both the Kaizer Chiefs and Portsmouth. Before the tour, Eagles stated he would seek reassurance from the boss whilst in Africa as to his future role at the club and we can only assume that in this meeting Eagles was told he had no future with the champions.
Eagles is Burnley’s sixth signing of the summer and club captain Steve Caldwell believes the signing is a fantastic capture for the club.
“He’s got a lot of qualities, played at the biggest club in the world and he’s certainly going to improve our squad and make us stronger for the coming season”.
Darren Fletcher is a transfer target for Everton
July 8, 2008
Darren Fletcher has today emerged as a summer transfer target of Everton. Fellow Scot, David Moyes, is hoping he can lure the midfielder to Goodison Park with the promise of regular first team football. Moyes is lining up a £4 million bid in an attempt to persuade United to sell the Scotland International but with Ferguson holding the player in such high regard, it is by far a certainty that a move will be on the cards.
Fletcher is currently on a £25,000 a week deal at Old Trafford and Moyes thinks he can offer him a package that is equal to his current deal if not better. On top of that, Fletcher will be assured a more prominent role in the team than he is likely to get at Old Trafford.
Fletcher is hungry for football week in week out but he is also driven to succeed at Old Trafford. Talking about not being selected every week he said
“You have to take disappointment and use it as a fuel. If you’re not selected then you have to think to yourself ‘I’m going to make an impact if I get on’. You can’t let your head get down at all.”
Transfer roundup (07/07/08)
July 8, 2008
Liverpool have snapped up Danish Striker Nikola Saric from Herfolge on a free. Rafa Benitez won the 17 year old forward’s signature after beating off strong interest from both Barcelona and Tottenham.
Southampton have signed 21 year old goalkeeper Tommy Forecast from Tottenham for an undisclosed fee.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on the move - destination Old Trafford?
July 7, 2008
As reports emerge that Arsenal are making Klaas-Jan Huntelaar their top transfer target should Emmanuel Adebayor move on, the player himself has spoken to the Dutch media and named Manchester United as a club he would love to play for.
“I know certain English clubs are following me, like Manchester United, who are very interested in me” he said.
“I love clubs with great history like Ajax. I also love United. They are a club that make me dream, especially as Ruud van Nistelrooy did great things with them.”
Huntelaar currently plays for Ajax but the striker has only one year left on his contract and negotiations over extending his deal have stalled. With plenty of clubs interested, it is looking increasingly likely that the £18 million rated player will be moving in the coming weeks.
Huntelaar is not the sort of player to slot into the silky smooth attacking line up of Manchester United but there is no questioning his ability to score. In 39 appearances for Ajax last term, the prolific hit man found the net 36 times and scored 8 times in 13 appearances for Holland.
Transfer roundup (05/07/08)
July 5, 2008
Brazilian midfielder Geovanni has moved from Manchester City to Hull City on a free transfer after spending just one sason at the club. Geovanni has signed a 2 year deal with the Premiership new boys.
Harry Kewell has signed a two year contract at Galatasaray after leaving Liverpool in the summer.
Transfer roundup (04/07/08)
July 4, 2008
Liverpool have signed 26 year old defender Andrea Dossena from Udinese for a fee believed to be in the region of £7 million.
Middlesbrough completed a £4 million deal for Didier Digard from Paris Saint Germain and also tied up a £3.2 million swoop for forward Marvin Emnes from Sparta Rotterdam.
West Ham have snapped up 17 year old Icelandic starlet Holmar Orn Eyjolffson from HK Kopavogur.
Ajax have confirmed on their website that they will smahsh the Dutch record transfer fee after agreeing to pay £12.8 million to Heerenveen for forward Miralem Sulejmani.
Richard Dunne commited himself to Manchester City for a further four years. The City captain, 28, had one year left to run on his contract and was considering his future before signing the new deal.
England under 21 captain, Steven Taylor has signed a new 3 year deal at Newcastle.
