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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Manchester United sign Nani and Anderson. The transfer lowdown

Good morning boys and girls. I thought that I’d get my post in early this morning because of the fantastic news that broke last night. I check my comments and six guys have beaten me to it on the comments, God you guys are fast. I think it’s important for us to welcome Nani and Anderson to the club, so I’ll see if I can find some Youtube videos of them.

Reports suggest that the pair have been purchased for up to £30 million. This would take Sir Alex Ferguson’s pre season spending close to the £50 million mark. Both players represent an attacking prowess, which gives us some insight as to how United are going to play their football next season…. Anyone for more goals?

The sun article says that Ferguson is opting to play a 4-2-3-1 formation next season. We would have our standard back four, Hargreaves and Carrick as holding players, Ronaldo, Anderson and Ronaldo as our attacking options with Rooney up front. To me that sounds a little devastating. My only concern would be that Rooney is not an out and out striker, but the way the front four play, changing positions and interlinking with each other I think that they will all interchange positions throughout the game.

Anderson is one of the most coveted talents in Europe with Chelsea and Real Madrid both interested. His first club was Gremio coincidentally the same club where Ronaldinho rose through the ranks, indeed some have even gone as far as to compare him the Brazilian master. In 2005 he won the player of the tournament at the Fifa under-17 world championship. His move from Porto was completed in real haste, something United have not done all that well in recent years. Anderson has been named in Dunga’s squad for the Copa America. View Anderson’s stats here.

Nani is a more renowned talent to many United fans. Dubbed the new Ronaldo, he has long been a target of Sir Alex Ferguson. He is seen as a long term successor to Ryan Giggs who this week announced his retirement from international football to prolong his United Career. Nani is considered the most promising of left Wingers in Portugal, he has speed, skill and is a good striker of the ball. Nani made his first-team debut for Sporting Lsibon aged 18, making 29 appearances including all six champions league games. He scored 5 goals last season. View Nani’s Stats here.

I think that one important thing has emerged with these two signings and that is the growing role that Carlos Queiroz is havign at the club. These two deals were done in Portugal, Queiroz’s home country. I don’t think this is a bad thing, after all he is bringing flair and exciting players to the club. It’s not that Sir Alex didn’t do that before, more that Carlos maybe has the connections in Portugal at a time when they are producing some of the finest talents on the world scene.

The papers are saying that Ferguson is not finished yet and still wants to add another striker to his ranks. At £50 million already spent I think we will see some departures before this happens. According to journalists, Heinze is a forgone conclusion and I woulld expect Richardson and Saha to move on in order to fund a new set of legs up front.

These signings come at the right time for United. As Scholes and Giggs prepare to hang up their boots, the future of United arrive. They will have one or two seasons to learn from the masters, let’s hope they do and pick up where our Salford heros left off.

Videos of Anderson





Videos of Nani





See the UK Newspaper stories here.

the Guardian

The Mirror

The Sun

The Sun part 2

The daily mail

The Daily Telegraph

The Times

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Manchester United transfer rumours 30/05/2007

Good morning people, apologies for not posting in a while, it’s been a hectic week and surprisingly not many transfer rumours about. The latest news is that Hargreaves will join up with United at the start of next week. It will be great when one of the longest transfer sagas in history finally winds up. We are hoping that this is just the start.

What was going on with Bale? So many people have said that this kid is going to be special. We were in the hunt for him and then all of asudden, Tottenham unveil him for £5 million, possibly £10 million. Let’s just hope that we don’t end up paying over the odds for him in 2 years time. I honestly feel that we’ve missed a great opportunity there.

Then there is Nani. This is a player who we have been tracking for a couple of years now. All of a sudden Totttenham are in Portugal looking to do a quick deal. I think the Man Utd scouts need to wake up a little and sign the players that we actually earmark.

Anyway rant over. The news in the oh so reliable Daily star reports that Sir Alex is making his move for both Eto and Huntelaar. These are old stories and I know we need to keep our transfers quiet for fear of being priced out of the market, but let’s have some fresh developments!

I think we should also be focussing on wingers. As it stands we have Giggs, Ronaldo, Park and Richardson. This needs bolstering this summer if we are to avoid being caught thin on the ground next season. Who do you think we should sign other than Nani?

Finally Ryan Giggs is to announce his retirement from international football today. He is quoted as saying that he would like to prolong his playing career at United! Good man! I’m sure you will all join with me in congratulating Giggsy on a fantastic international career!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Manchester United Transfer News 23/05/2007

Good morning fellow United fans, after the drab performance at the weekend, we are left kicking our heals, doing housework and generally making nuisances of ourselves. For after tonight we hit a baron spot of club football. Of course tonight sees Milan and Liverpool battle it out for the champions league crown. I think you’ll all join me in wishing AC Milan the best of luck?!

So onto transfers, it was reported this morning that Bale could move to either Tottenham or United in a cut-price deal, such is Southampton’s financial situation. Please let’s not make this another Berbatov saga, where we had the opportunity to sign him, then Tottenham stole him from under our noses!

The Gudjohnsen deal has reared its head again, with West Ham reportedly lining up an £8 million deal. Do you think he could cut the mustard at United? Such is our pace and attacking flair! For me we need someone with more pace and skill than Gudjohnsen. Eto or Torres would fit the bill more aptly I think.

With Hargreaves, I look forward to him being unveiled as our next midfield honcho. It has been some time since we have had a real ball winner in midfield, I think that we missed that on Saturday and I am hoping he will add that aggression next season, oh next season seems so far away!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Owen Hargreaves transfers to Manchester United

So it's official, Owen Hargreaves has finally completed his move to Manchester United from Bayern Munich. The fee is rumoured to be in the region of £17 million, a record for a bundesliga player. For United it has been a long time coming but we knew it would happen eventually.

I will write a full article on this tomorrow with links to all the newspaper articles, but I just had to get the word out now as quickly as possible. Yesterday was a real bummer and Terry really wound me up when he said his team had the fitness after 90 minutes to push on for the victory. What utter rubbish, neither team played well, but I thought we edged it in extra time. They took their chance and fair play! It was a drab match with neither team playing well.

Guess what Chelsea? We're the Champions. Roll on next season, Hargreaves and Carrick to rule for years to come!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Manchester United Transfer News 17-05-2007

Good morning people, it’s not long to go now until the FA cup final. I’m sure you will all join me in hoping that Jose finds his little yourkie terrier safe and sound. It must be a torrid time for the little thing! On a lighter note Ladbrokes are offering odds of 500-1 that he will make a pitch invasion on Saturday.

Transfer news has been quiet over the past couple of days, but there are a couple of stories that have come out this morning that may be of interest. Let’s kick things off with a story in the Sun about Mark Viduka. Read the article here. I think for a free transfer this guy could work perfectly. He is strong and can hold the ball up well. The only problem would be his pace, but he could be used as and when to provide another option.

The Daily Star is assuring us that Bale will definitely move to either Manchester United or Tottenham this summer in light of them missing out on qualification to the premiership. This old news to be honest, I think we will get him as he is quick, can tackle and can cross. I think United is a bigger pull than Tottenham!

What is going on with Saha? The guy is always injured. I think it might be high time the Frenchman moved on. We need a clearout of certain individuals if we are to progress. Players I think we can afford to let go are Richardson, Silvestre and Saha. That would provide us with the extra funds we need to bring in the big boys!

Monday, May 14, 2007

Hi to all,
This is an appeal to anyone who might have any information as to the whereabouts to Madeleine McCann. If you have any information, no matter how small you may think it is, please call the number on the picture below. Our thoughts and prayers are with Madeleine and her family at this time.

Manchester United lift the Premiership Trophy, again!

Good morning sports fans! I have a great statistic for you before we kick things off. John O’Shea had a shot to goals ratio of 80% this season. In other words his shots went in 80% of the time. To put that statistic into perspective Gilberto cam second, with 31%. Thanks Sky Sports News for that bit of useless yet interesting bit of information.

What a great weekend! We finally got to see our boys lift the most coveted trophy in England. Fergie we salute you for bringing it home. The Chelsea boys were good housekeepers for 2 seasons, but it’s now back with its friends, all nine of them!

It was a bit of a dampener that we didn’t beat West Ham, if I’m honest I think they deserved to have points docked for the irregularities of the Tevez and Mascherano affair. At the end of the day they cheated and cheated badly. Fining a club £5.5 million when they stand to make £50 million next season from staying in the premiership doesn’t seem like a punishment to me. I’m also gutted for Sheffield United, I think Neil Warnock is a great manager, he has integrity and honesty and works like a Trojan. I hope they come up next season.

The game itself was a bit of a non starter. You could see that our boys were playing with one eye on Saturday’s game. Players weren’t jumping into tackles, they weren’t challenging for the ball and many of our key men were rested. Having said that we were really unlucky, 25 shots in a game is more than enough to grab a goal. Perhaps that day at the races last week hadn’t been completely shaken off? We’ll forgive you boys.

Onto transfer news. According to the Mirror, Huntelaar is our top target for the summer. I know he has been setting the Dutch league on fire in recent years and that they often make the transition to the premiership quite well, but does he have the pace that Ferguson is looking for?

It seems that Berbatov is determined to stay at Spurs. It is another case where we should not pay way over the odds for someone just because Tottenham don’t need to sell. Having said that, he scored another great goal at the weekend, it seems that everything that he touches turns to gold.