The type of striker we need

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

A lead the line goal scorer with serious ball and creative skills. Is what we need

Godfather

And you dumb prick really think, that just because he works hard he would perfectly fit into our squad?

You are the one who should get a clue.

Drogba has the ability to hold up the ball 1000 times better than Owen
He is stronger than Owen.
His finishing is better than Owen's
He is stronger than Owen.
He is faster than Owen.
He is better in the air than Owen.

Berbatov is a better header of the ball than Owen.
He is more creativ than Owen.
His link up play with other's is better than Owen's
His holding up the ball is better than Owen's
Oh and his finishing, guess what is better than Owen's
He is bigger than Owen.

Eto'o is simply in all cirterias a better footballer than Owen.

But I agree with you that he is a cunt, but you never know if people like Fergie could sort his attitude problems out.

Owen is small, an ex-scouser, injury-prone, not a target man in the way we need him, he has lost pace.

Wow I could go on like that for hours.

All in all we can come to the conclusion that Owen is the personified "exactly what we don't need".

And don't get me started with Benzema.

That guy is immense and if you had watched the French league from time to time you would know that.

Godfather

How can a player, who can't even guarantee you to play 20 games a season, to score 20 goals.

And do you really think that you financial situation is that bad?
We have debt yes, but we are nowhere near a financial cryisis and as Fergie said, he doesn't have to but he will spend this summer.

Crustanoid

on that logic.....Rossi

Elliott

Who won't sulk if he's benched for a game or two. No Fabiano in other words. Very good player mind.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

The thing is Fabiano never sulked when Ramos rotated him. I doubt he would sulk under Fergie. I'm just more worried what he would do when frustrated, or knocked around by defenders. He does like to let his fists & elbows do the talking...

anyways. the only forwards who meet my description are Fabiano, Berbatov, Santa Cruz, McCarthy and E'too.

Only Berba and Fab are on the radar currently

Mr. Wood

I disagree. I don't think we have anywhere near enough knowledge about United's finances to consider transfer fees. What the player can bring to the team should be the only consideration.

Edit - I'm referring to us fans by the way. Gill and co should of course adopt a different stance.

Name Changed

I would prefer to buy somebody who would fit into our system. I would rather not have to change the system to accomodate a player. The last thing you would want is to turn into a long ball team. But a player who could hold it up well, fit well into a passing game, and score a lot of goals would obviosly be helpful. They would also have to work hard ala Rooney and tevez.

Michael Owen is not an option. He is injury prone. He will not complete a whole season. If you are luck, you will get half a season. not good enough. He is also lazy. He is not even fast anymore.

Dimitar Berbatov is a qualty player. His finishing is excellent. His hold up play is excellent. But he is lazy. And he will demand to be the centre of attention. That is not what we need.

Luis Fabiano is not near the quality of the player that we need. A good 4th choice striker, thats all.

Klass Jan Huntelaar is a quality finished. He is a Van Nistelrooy type of player. He will not be involved in the game too often but he will score a lot of goals. I do not think that another Van nistelrooy type player would be helpful.

The answer; Karim Benzema.

He has it all.
He has pace.
He can hold the ball up.
He will score.
He will track back.
He will play in a squad rotation system and not demand to play every match.
He would be an integral part of our build up play.
He is young.
He is available.

Benzema is the man for us in my humble opinion.

Sam#1

I'm of the belief that we, potentially, have something very special with the Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez combination, and I'd rather we didn't split it up. Because of this, I don't think we should sign a 'big' name striker, i.e any Berbatov's or Benzema's of this world.

Bape

Bollocks.

Won't happen.

Ekeke

Or how about this.

Say we sign a striker of Tevez' ability (Eto'o, Villa, Gomez, Benzema - for example)

We now have 3 genuinely talented superstar strikers. And we jhave Manucho for when needed.

We start the season with say, Tevez and Rooney up front. We know this parnership worked to an extent this season - with a bit more time and fitness for both players, it could be even better.

So they start the season as a partnership up front, giving the new striker time to settle coming off the bench for a few games.

Now, 4 or 5 matches into the season - Tevez and Rooney are on fire. What to do? Simple, we keep playing them till there is a drop in form. Even if the new striker comes on as a sub with 20 minutes to go and scores a hatrick, if those two are at their best, we play them.

Or - 4 or 5 matches into the season and one of Tevez and Rooney hasnt played near their best football. Time for the new striker to be given a chance.

The next striker comes in and plays better than Tevez/Rooney - whoever lost their place.

So what does Tevez/Rooney do? Simple. They practice and try harder than ever and they find their best form again.

As soon as the levels drop from one of the other two, they slot right back in.

This competition is very healthy for ensuring that our players play to their best and dont drop their standards. Having this 3rd, quality striker would mean we can A) rest players and B) make sure they play to their best.

Up front is the only place we dont have a lot of competition right now. And partly down to injury and fatigue, neither Rooney nor Tevez his absolute top form this season. A 3rd, top quality striker, would ensure they do so.

Sam#1

On paper, and on FM, it sounds perfect, but in reality? Unlikely to work.

Tevez, Rooney and 'superstar striker', are all good enough to be playing week in week out at most top European sides, and will all want to play the consistently, and especially in the 'big' games. We wouldn't be able to offer any guarantees to these 3, and if they don't get enough time on the pitch, they will simply go somewhere where they will start week in week out.

What we need is a young-ish player, who is good enough to start any game, but is also learning, and happy to accept a place on the bench. Basically, a striker version of Anderson and Nani, if you like. They won't demand to play every week, but when given a chance, they will take it, and give the manager something to think about when picking his next team.

Now, I'm not going to throw names around (I'll leave that to the muppets), but IMO, trying to accommodate 3 'superstar' strikers, that would be first team regulars at most other clubs in the world, would be very difficult indeed.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

Good point.That is why signing men like Fabiano or Huntelaar makes the most sense. In that regard. I still wish we could go for Gomez instead of those 2 though

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

Spot on

Bape

But Huntelaar is a 'big name striker', he's more than capable of playing week in week out football at the biggest clubs in europe given the right formation/set up. I don't think we have the luxury of buying a Huntelaar (or even Fabiano) and expect him to be bench warming most the time for Tevez/Rooney. Rotation however would be a different matter. In fact, this is what he said today:

If we really expect a striker to come in and happily sit on the bench, then he will either be very young/old, very average or an unknown. We seem to have all these criterias already in Campbell/Manucho/Welbeck.

My opinion is we might as well go out and buy a proper striker to complete our strike force once and for all.

RedDevilCanuck

We need aerial ability, size, skill, unselfish, and pace.

Ekeke

I'm pretty sure Tevez and Rooney would accept it, and treat it as a challenge to get back into the side. Tevez hasnt complained about being benched this season. I'm also sure we wouldnt sign a player who is going to strop about it and want to leave after a year.

bbest

Mario Gomez reminds me of a 30-yr old Senegalese player signed by a local team in my area during the mid-90. Although the league is a third division standard as compared to the Premier league, it's not a total bore as the ball is played more on the ground rather than in the air. What I want to really touch on here is the attributes of a player and his suitability to a league as a whole.

This player is exceptionally tall with a height more than two-meter. He is so tall that Ray Wilkinson, who for some reason, came to this part of the World, saw the player, and remarked he could be a basketball player. But make no mistake on the talent of this player as he shows his detractors he can play the game as well. He was once called up to the Senegal national team too.

Because of his height, naturally, the coach appoints him as a target man. To add more firepower to the front, the team recruits another tall Senegalese player to partner him upfront, and together they are nicknamed "The Twin Towers".

The opponents simply have no defenders to cope with his power, strength, and most importantly, his height. Although he is not pacy, he is not too slow either. He will start the build-up play by holding the ball with his superior body strength and neat footwork. His neat footwork, an attribute usually associates with much smaller nimble players, who have a lower center of gravity that enables them to turn and break away from markers, is his strength.

When the media and skeptics start to question whether he can score with his feet as most of his goals are headers, he answers the critics with beautiful, executed volleys outside the box. His career ended in a sour note when he and his partner were found guilty of assaulting another rival player after a highly tense game. He was banned for a year and he only returned after a five-yr absence. By then, the league had already crumpled due to financial constraints and dearth of fresh talent as many players retired from the game.

Mario Gomez, with his lanky legs, makes big strides as he runs. This also means he is not slow as he covers more ground at a gallop. As he is young, he has probably several good years ahead. My concern is whether he can be molded in another "Mark Viduka", who did exceptionally well in a Leeds' shirt, notably with his strength and good footwork.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

Gomez is a Viduka with a good attitude, work rate and consistency. A gem of a player

bbest

Rather than paying 21mp for Fabiano (35% - Seville; 65% - Agent), S.A.F. is shrewd enough to know his age and cost against other more viable targets. I think this Fabiano saga could be a smokescreen after all.

Bilbo

If the club were interested in Owen, of course it would only be on the basis that he shows a clean medical report.

Re: the financial situation, its impossible to know. I think the only thing we can say with any certainty is that it couldn't be described as healthy. We have a wonderful squad of players that doesn't need 40m thrown at it, IMO. We're obviously short a striker, but a support striker only, and there are far better options out there than a 30m Berbatov or Benzema IMO.

Bilbo

Of course as a fan I would like us to bid 60m for Messi, but the reality is that its probably smarter to consolidate somewhat this summer. We spent heavily last year, and still do not yet own one of our players.

If for example we bought in Owen, the young Cardiff winger and a right-back for a combined cost of 25m, who could argue that we haven't improved the squad and resolved any problem positions?

FortBoyard

Sack Fergie, Sign Slevin?

Tabata

Answering the question, it's Benzema by a mile but it won't happen this summer.

Gasolin