Huntelaar wants to play for United

Kaiketsu_Zorro

Klaas 'ready' for big move
by Alex Livie, 10 May 2008

Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s agent has claimed the Ajax striker would jump at the chance to join Manchester United.

Huntelaar is one of Europe’s most coveted attacking talents, as his exploits for Ajax have seen him likened to fellow Holland international Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Ajax are keen to retain the striker’s services and Huntelaar has waxed lyrical about working under Marco van Basten next term, but an offer from Old Trafford could prove too tempting to pass up.

"Klaas could make the step up to a top-level club in Europe this summer,” Huntelaar’s agent Arnold Oosterveer told the Daily Express. “He likes English football and watches The Premier League.

”Of course he would love to join United. He wants to make the next step.”

Sir Alex Ferguson has not yet finalised his summer targets, but he could face competition for Huntelaar.

”A player who scores 33 goals in one season is interesting for every top club,” added Oosterveer. “Real Madrid are looking at him, as are a number of other European clubs.”

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If we were ever interested in Huntelaar, this is the time to sign him up!

RedKaos

Fuck Madrid, were the bigger club.

Sign him up! (if we cant get Benzema that is )

Ekeke

If we can't get Benzema, Gomez, Aguero, Villa or Berbatov - Sign him up!!!!111

Kaiketsu_Zorro

Forgot to add the link:

http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/Ne...nt-on-Man-Utd/

RedKaos

Setantas polls just sums up how amateur this lot are:

What will happen on Sunday?
ManU win-Chel win
Man U win-Chel draw
Man U win-Chel lose
Man U draw-Chel win
Man U draw-Chel draw
Man U draw-Chel lose
Man U lose-Chel win
Man U lose-Chel draw
Man U lose-Chel lose

rooney__10

Not sure about him, scored a lot of goals but maybe so could darren bent.

Id rather us test the water with berbatov or adebayor first.

His desire to play for us is a good thing though if this is correct. What is his general play like i.e. hold up play, pace, first touch and heading ability.

Rahul

I don't know why the Caf don't like Huntelaar. I've seen him play (not live) on numerous occasions and the guy has phenominal finishing. And he carries it through on the international stage as well.

Of course if Benzema was available, or Berbatov's price tage wasn't stupidly high i'd say we go for them, but the chances look a tad slim for those guys.

I also reckon a player like Rooney could almost benefit from playing with Hunter as he'd fall into that "behind the striker" roll which imo is his best position.

The Hunter has become the hunted

Chris H

Thanks for adding it, always annoys me a bit when posters make me go to google to figure out whether their source is complete rubbish or not. Wish everyone would include the links.

I don't have an opinion on whether or not we should sign Huntelaar, because I don't get to see much Dutch football. But this is the sort of thing the club likes, players who say they want to come to United. The agent is a good start - now if Huntelaar himself says something similar once Ajax are through with the playoffs, that would be a more definite indication that he really does want the move. If Ferguson actaully rates him, it would then be a matter of coming to terms with Ajax. Watch this space, I suppose.

Ekeke

Because he'd score a bunch of goals and suddenly others wouldnt. We'd be back to being predictable up front and we'd have NO rotation - which has served us so well - because he is purely a central player and is useless out wide.

We need a Saha - mobile CF, not a Ruud - static CF.

dejans

i want benzema

Rahul

Has rotation served us "so well" ? . I'd say its done okay but 9/10 sticking with your best team has always been pivotal to victory.

And why would anyone play a striker like Huntelaar out wide anyway (odd) ?

Ronaldo has saved our asses on many occasion this season ( and you can't argue with that) because we haven't necessarily had a traditional goalscorer in our team. Huntelaar could easily provide that.

If we get him i certainly wouldn't be unhappy.

Bape

It's not about playing him out wide, it's about the interchanging front four we play with, and it's been well documented that Huntelaar's style could somewhat nullify the system, certainly not as suitable as a mobile CF. For example, him staying in the centre most the time would probably resort in Ronaldo having to stay out wide more to stretch the defence and supply crosses, the system we play with is built to Ronaldo's strength as being a free roaming attacking player, he may loose that freedom if we go with the hunter. Adding to that, the interchanging system has been so successful the past two seasons since Ruud has left, not sure why we would want to butcher that.

Having said that, theres no doubt how good a CF he is. He could be a good buy... and he does seem very keen to join us and has done for a long time.

Ballache

i see where you're coming from, but IMO if we had a finisher like him we would heve sealed the league and still be in the FA Cup

Name Changed

I think Benzema is a far better prospect and would fit into United´s style of play much better. From what I have seen of Huntelaar in 2 or 3 games is that he doesn´t get involved in the game much, only to get on the end of things, Van Nistelrooy like. Benzema gets involved with the play and will score goals. I just think he would be suited to our game more.

devilish

If the price is right then I wouldnt mind having another RVN in our team. He would give us a different approach if needed.

ThatOldRedMagic

Anyone know how much he'd cost?

MUFCgal

I think he'd fit perfectly into our system and the way we play, he's a goal machine. Go Fergie, go get him please

RedKaos

Quotes suggest £16million is the standard valuation.

Ekeke

Very well. The rotation of the front 3 is a big reason why Ronaldo has scored his goals this season. That much is obvious.

...Dense.

Thats how rotating the positions of the front 3 players works. Ronaldo comes inside and Tevez comes out wide. Or Rooney goes through the middle and Tevez drops off. Opponents dont just have to take care of 1 player, they are challenged by 3 different players.

Thats the entire point. Without our strikers and Ronaldo rotating, he would not have scored anywhere near as many of those goals, so we need a mobile striker who is going to allow for that.

Yes, he'd provide us goals but nothing else. We'd be back to RVN scoring all of our goals and opponents marking him, knowing exactly what we're going to do and when. We'd get much less out of our other star players.

Because you dont seem to see the big picture.

If we had a finisher like him, other players (Namely Ronaldo) wouldnt have scored anywhere near as many goals. We'd be in exactly the same position as now, only Ronaldo wouldn't be topping the scoring charts - Huntelaar would.

There are other players who score a lot of goals who would also fit into our current system and not have us regress 2 years. Benzema, Mario Gomez, even Berbatov fits the system better because at least he can drop deep to allow Ronaldo through the middle. Smaller, mobile strikers are even a better fit - Eto'o and David Villa for example. At least they can pull wide and allow the best player in the world to do what has made him the best player in the world. We simply dont need a static striker who will score goals if we create chances, but feck all else. We have Manucho for that.

RedNome

It's not about changing the way we play to fit a certain player in, it's about giving our squad more options, and giving us certain styles of play to use when other things aren't working in a game. A traditional CF would give us more options, doesn't necessarily mean we will stop playing the way we have for most parts this year.

Ekeke

Manucho.

Why have 2 when we can have someone different? We're talking about a player who would replace Saha - a mobile CF. It would make sense that the player would in fact be... A mobile CF.

GE

Benzema and Manucho for the win!

Instant Karma

We are better off buying a striker for the squad like say Ashton rather than a first team striker. One among Tevez, Rooney and Benzema/Huntelaar may need to be benched in each game and I dont think any of them will accept that like Ole did.

RedNome

Are we? Wasn't aware SAF had filled you in on his requirements for next season.

VoetbalWizard

yes huntelaar isn't the first choice but attitude is a massive component in whether we should sign a player or not. If he is willing to come to united and doesn't expect to start week in week out (or is willing to fight for his place in the first XI without it being handed to him), it'll help his chances in terms of us signing him. I like him as a player and it gives us a different option up top.

I think many are worried that he's more kuyt or kezman over van nistelrooy, which is a valid worry, though he does score for holland as well.

Instant Karma

Spot on.

Ekeke

So you're saying we'll be going into next season with :

Rooney, Tevez, Huntelaar, Saha, Manucho and Campbell?

Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Saha, Manucho and Campbell?

Rooney, Tevez, Benzema, Saha, Manucho and Campbell?

It's fairly obvious that if we do sign someone, Saha's days are numbered. The reason we didnt sign a striker this season was because SAF still had faith. 3 goals in a season means unfortunately that faith has not been repaid. And seeing as we signed 1 striker and bid for another in Jan, time has run out for Saha. The only reason he was still at the club is because SAF felt he could still fulfill his role as a mobile target man. And now we need someone who can do the same.

Havak

Huntelaar is the real deal. He'd be my first target this Summer to be honest, before anyone else. We need to sign him.

Ekeke