We really don't need another central midfielder surely. I think a pacey right winger would be perfect.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic |United Player | See the thread in the United Forum
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Countless times last season we got over ran in midfield. We improved second half of the season with Carrick in there but he is to old to be our midfield anchor week in week out.
A couple of those midfielders are completely different players under LVG. You could tell Schneiderlin/Herrera weren't comfortable in that rigid system for example. Lets see, but I think Mourinho has a lot of talent to work with in the middle of the park. Would love us to get Pogba (but that's for a different thread).
WRT Zlatan - I'm very curious to know how much money we make from his shirt sales. It could be the wages fund themselves! (Unlikely though)
We don't actually make money from shirt sales do we? We get the 75 million from adidas which covers this- that's my understanding anyway? Could be wrong.
Ah that would be amazingly shite then. I'm not sure that's the case, if so our deal is worth more than 1bn UDS over 10 years surely.
Nah I don't think that's true, I think with Nike they took a lot if the profits from shirt sales but at adidas it's in the agreement that we receive most of the profits. Ibra will be the highest kit sales in the world next year and will make a fortune in marketing. It's as free a transfer as you can get.
Serious? Why are folks here keep saying his shirt sale will "compensate" for his high salary demand?
so no one actually knows how the deal is like, and all are just "they think"... interesting.
You're talking about the old Nike deal here.
Ok cheers for clearing that up buddy. Brilliant stuff.
Age is a massive downside, especially in a tough league as PL
Funny that people say Carrick is too old but when it comesto Ibra age is just a number yet they are of same age
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Age could be you mean, but there are no signs that age is catching up with him so I'm optimistic. The fact that he's an absolute beast bodes well for this leaue.
And Ronaldo is older than Rooney, what's your point? Zlatan is a physical freak of a player that works hard to stay in great condition. I love Carrick but he's never been a player that thrived due to his physical condition so when what "little" he had goes, it's really telling.
People didn't say that when he had both of his best seasons for us this side of 30. It's because last season his form tailed off. However when you score 50 goals and register your highest tally ever, it's hard to see how you could accuse him of slowing down.
Nowhere does it mention "personality". Its talking about their greatest athlete. You have Swedes in this thread telling you that he is their best ever footballer, why are you trying to argue here?
Best sporting personality is entirely different to best/most valuable player.
Because he doesn't trust the Swedes to know what's best for themselves? Just throwing it out there.
My bad, I read "best sporting person" as best sporting personality.
Regarding the rest, I acknowledge that I probably didn't know enough about the Swedish national team to make some of the claims I made, and it sounds like I have underestimated the lack of quality in the rest of the side (I've never thought they were as bad as some suggested when I've watched them, but I haven't seen too many matches). I maintain he's not their best player of all time though, I still think someone like Nils Liedholm should be held in higher esteem given what he achieved. It strikes me as odd that a player of Liedholm's talent, who won Olympic gold (a much bigger deal in the 50's) and led Sweden to a world cup final would not be considered the greatest footballer the country has ever seen, but maybe there's a recency effect.
How old are Payet and Kante?
Ibrahimovic has also been to other countries you know and has done well.
Payet is 29.
What has age got to do with it when he's coming off his best season ever?
28 and 25 I believe. At 35 Ibra is as fit as Payet ever was.
I think he will flop but we will see
We have seen a lot of older players with huge reputations come to the PL and underwhelm such as Morientes and Shevchenko. Also Ibra looked awful against Man City in both CL games. He didn't really do anything over the 2 legs, as is common with him in the CL.
You could argue that by that definition, messi has had an abysmal international career.
At least zlatan and ronaldo stuck about in far shitter teams.
Of course, any player can flop. Those players didn't have the advantage that Zlatan has in his size though. You could see in the game against Belgium that for example Alderweireld didn't have a chance against him physically.
The City games have been cited alot against him but did people actually watch those games? He missed the penalty in the first leg and lost his composure but PSG were a total mess. And even more so in the second leg where Motta was their only remaining starting midfielder and Blanc decided to start with a completely new formation. Ibra several times had to come down into his own defence in order to link play with the midfield, just to get a touch of the ball.
I never said he hasn't. I'm setting high standards here.
I don't think he's finished though.
There's a big difference between some of the national teams Liedholm and Ibrahimović played in. The former has the likes of Hamrin (one of the greatest winger-forwards in football history - who finished 4th in the 1958 Ballon D'Or), Gunnar Nordahl (one third of Gre-no-li), Agne Simonsson, Nacka Skoglund, Gren (another third of Gre-no-li), Bengt Gustavsson, Ake Johansson, Orvar Bergmark (arguably the top European fullback of the era):
It was essentially an all-star team, with some of the greatest footballers in the history of their national team playing at the same time - many of them made Ballon D'Or shortlists (as you can see in the Hamrin link: 6 players in the Top 25). Contrast that with Zlatan's teams, and the difference is stark. IMO, comparing Ibrahimović and Liedholm's collective achievements is a pointless exercise given that not only is there are vast era/qualitative differential, it's hard to offset the importance of the chemistry between Liedholm, Green, and Nordahl. Plus, you won't find a lot of evidence to support Liedholm in the form of footage outside of the time when he was already past his peak (like the 1958 World Cup where he was admittedly great), and a lot of it is based on narrative (which can be embellished, or underrated). The easiest solution would be to place them on the same broad level - one for the modern/post-modern era, and one for the war/post-war era.
@The Stain is always adamant that Zlatan's their best ever. He's a homer, though. @Annahnomoss might have a more balanced opinion regarding this.
Zlatan has pulled Sweden to a couple of Euros they probably shouldnt be in if it hadnt been for him, for example he single handedly destroyed Denmark in the playoffs to this Euro... So i'd say he has pushed his nationalteam beyond what theyre capable of on a number of occasions..
I live here, and I don't know a single Swede, old or young that doesn't consider Zlatan far and away their best player of all time.
So Ibra is a short term option coming in to play for 1 season at United. Does this mean Rashford is the long term solution or we still have to buy another striker next summer when Ibra leaves?
Does this also mean that people are happy with Martial playing wide left, a position the previous manager got a lot of stick for, to accomodate Ibra. Maybe Jose will argue that he now has 3 strikers (Ibra, Rashford and Martial), with Depay, Adnan, Young fighting for left side spot.
Does this also mean that people are happy with Martial playing wide left, a position the previous manager got a lot of stick for, to accomodate Ibra. Maybe Jose will argue that he now has 3 strikers (Ibra, Rashford and Martial), with Depay, Adnan, Young fighting for left side spot.
Ibra might stay for another year though, and for me the most important factor to the Zlatan signing is that we get a bit of "feck you" back in a team which today largely consists of too many nice guys, and young guys that still hasn't got that level of braveur and aura yet. It would also be unfair to heap the burden of being the main striker on a 18 year old Rashford that only came on the scene 8 months ago.
Martial has for the moment proven to be better as a wide left forward. This leaves us with the option of either getting a proper LW and moving Martial up front in a year or two, or have Martial on the LW and get another striker who can rotate with Rashford.
But now, we need Zlatan to weather the storm that comes with Manchester United for our young ones.
He got stick for about a month, then everyone realised Martial was better as a left forward.
Who knows the future and how Rashford will develope, what matters is now.
That formation looks mental
Take your sensible talk and get the feck outta here. He didn't score against City so he's shit. Full stop.
I'm a little bored of this one right now. Something concrete needs to happen.
I'm hoping for a Drogba-style dressing room influence, which would be invaluable this season. Can see him inspiring the team to the title through: A) Sheer presence, B) Example on the pitch, C) Subconscious fear of pissing off Zlatan. I may be completely deluded.
I hope it's with option of a second year. I'm very positive he will be the best signing made by any team in the league for the 16/17 season so would be great if we have a 1+1 year deal.
Umm.. yes he did
There is a lot of doubt about Ibra coming here. However I'm 100% confident Jose will get the best out of him. If he scores 15 goals I'll be more then happy. We need big characters and they don't get much bigger then Ibra.
I did not see anythingUmm.. yes he did
Not much will happen before 1st July i guess.
After watching Harry Kane have yet another shocker again tonight I'm even more convinced that the Premier League isn't streets ahead of France like @Twigginater and @Dobbs would have us believe, if Kane and Vardy can score 20 odd goals a season here, Zlatan will absolutely take the fecking piss.
The English NT aren't the Premier League though. The best players in the Prem are mostly not English.
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