we have lots of money...honest Nope. He was playing the Rooney role for Crewe I believe but Sir Alex said his coaches saw him as a CM in the future.
Pogba, Powell, Petrucci, Eikrem, Daehli
Why does he need money for school from Gill?
When it came to addressing a glaring weakness in our squad the last 4/5 years Fergie or Gill were hardly inspiring
Did we talk Scholes out of retirement?. I thought that Scholes approached Fergie and told him he was missing playing too much.
I meant for the first team, like Ando.
And with what sort of budget arewe looking for this established top midfielder? £25m?
We have not set a budget though if the bids on Cesc are anything to be believed, he just isnt that interested in coming here, he would have done a Rooney and kept quiet rather than tell the press he is happy in Barca. We are looking at certain players who would strengthen us, rather than looking for players in a certain price bracket. Players will need to want to come here too, it aint that easy. A lot of these world-class players are playing for top teams and getting gametime, it isnt going to be as easy as throwing money at a club and hoping negotiations with the player in question go swimmingly.
My point is, if we went around bidding £40m+ for the best players, I reckon we will be positively surprised at our response. Money is the hugest factor in convincing players and teams to do business, we still seem to be operating in a world where our currency is 'the history of the club'.
It's the fourth year in a row although this time I took it into consideration that it may change because we have a new manager. It does seem like it's going to stay the same though unless he takes Fellaini. The laughing smilies and abuse I get for saying that decreases with each year passing though, in 2010 I was called an idiot over and over again, even more so in 2011 but less in 2012 and now.
We should stop trying to get the unattainable targets though and just try to improve midfield from current standard, it's not going to be that difficult. Only Carrick and Cleverley are good enough for this level, players like Dembele or Gustavo who have moved in the last year or so would have been a big improvement for the squad. We can move for players like Fabregas when they become available anyway, for now someone decent would suffice but I reckon that even if we sign Fellaini we'll still be short (Anderson and Giggs aren't real options, one's 40 and one's unfit).
I can see it going to deadline day and us overpaying massively as you said.
Yep wouldn't be displeased with it either. It's stupid because we could've just paid a similar amount for him over a month ago, let him have pre season here and get used to the team etc.
and regardless of those 2 midfield disappointments, we went on to have (arguably) the most successful period in the whole history of the club - who needs midfielders?!
Yeah, it would be pretty stupid on our part but definitely less stupid than not signing anyone.
I don't know much about Willian, but are you suggesting he's a significantly better player than Fellaini?
Yes, he's also not a midfielder. Strange comparison that was.
I suspect it's more to do with the frustration felt at Chelsea being able to tie up a deal with such speed while United continue to prepare bids and work hard.
This isn't United's problem, it's Chelsea's. They clearly don't have a clue what is actually involved in preparing a bid. They just rush through and "sign" the player. What's so good about "signing" people if you haven't meticulously prepared a bid? Fools.
