Ander Herrera is a Manchester United Player!

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jojojo

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Sorry to ask but do you know how the Spanish media reporting this? Any criticism of United?

It's early days really. The sporting press are obsessed with the Bale deal.

AS seem to know the player's version of the story and plan to publish it tomorrow.

El Mundo described the men who went to Liga HQ as lawyers contracted by United, who weren't able to complete the deal. They've not really got into the "imposters" story yet.

The press seem to assume that United played with Herrera, and then decided to sign Fellaini
leaving him high and dry.
 

antohan

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What about hired by United and it wasn't us who made up the imposter bollocks?
I guess until there's an official statement that's an option, although it hasn't been just Ballague saying that. Mitten also mentioned people working on the deal "fuming at underhand tactics" IIRC.
 

NotoriousISSY

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I hope we go back in January, agree a deal and get down to a contract which Herrera signs a big "feck YOU" on.

If these matching stories are to be believed we've fecked around player who actually wanted to be here despite going for Barcelona boy Fabregas who loves his club and De Rossi who loves his club and had no intention of leaving.
 

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IF this turns out to be true, then there need to be consequenses.

This is about more than missing out on a midfielder. The whole procedure of this disaster has the potential to damage United´s reputation, which already took quite a few hits in this absolute clusterfeck of a transfer summer.

I can not really speak of the general opinion in Great Britain, but in Germany United is becoming more and more a laughing stock and one of the biggest opinions is that with SAF leaving, United also lost most of their competence.

They certainly don´t make Moyes´ start easy.
:(
 

Rood

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The strange thing is if these guys were the ones spending a month or so sorting out the Javi Martínez deal, then surely As/Ballague/Bilbao/maybe even Herrera would have recognised them?

What's the story then?
  1. Hired by a third party to disrupt => then there should be consequences
  2. Chancers trying to get themselves involved in the deal => same
  3. Hired by Herrera to make things happen like they did with his pal Martínez => just fecking sign him to replace Woody then
  4. Hired by United and now we are trying to dissociate ourselves => consistent with how moronic we've been throughout the Summer
Must be four.
I reckon it is none of the above - not sure where the rumours about the club trying to disassociate ourselves even come from. It will just be a misunderstanding or lost in translation somewhere along the line.

They likely were hired by the club to look into getting the transfer sorted and for one reason or another it didnt happen - the truth is probably that we just left it all too late - going off Martinez, these release clause deals seem to be quite complex.
 

Vato

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So, that's Herrera's career at Athletic then. I hope for him they have at least a confortable bench. :lol:
 

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I reckon it is none of the above - not sure where the rumours about the club trying to disassociate ourselves even come from. It will just be a misunderstanding or lost in translation somewhere along the line.

They likely were hired by the club to look into getting the transfer sorted and for one reason or another it didnt happen - the truth is probably that we just left it all too late - going off Martinez, these release clause deals seem to be quite complex.
We gave up at least a couple of hours before the deadline, no?

Anyway, it still begs questions on why we left it til the last day, his release clause has been there all summer, even if he wasn't our first choice, we could've made an opening bid early last week and had it done by Friday, but that would be too sensible for us.
 

antohan

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I reckon it is none of the above - not sure where the rumours about the club trying to disassociate ourselves even come from. It will just be a misunderstanding or lost in translation somewhere along the line.

They likely were hired by the club to look into getting the transfer sorted and for one reason or another it didnt happen - the truth is probably that we just left it all too late - going off Martinez, these release clause deals seem to be quite complex.
It's the likely thing, but there have been several reports over the day whereby we have distanced ourselves from that (quite obvious) option. I don't trust half the media outlets but it's on the BBC as well:

Ben Smith, BBC SportMANCHESTER UNITED LATEST
"Confirmation from Manchester United that three men who reportedly attempted to negotiate a deal to sign Athletic Bilboa midfielder Ander Herrera were not acting on behalf of the Premier League champions and were, for want of another word, imposters.
"Reports in Spain claim three men dressed in black suits and claiming to be United "representatives" spent an hour at the La Liga offices attempting to negotiate a deal. The move collapsed at the 11th hour."
 

Erentz

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Why would Bilbao freeze him out? he's still an important player for them. I'd like to think we'd find a way to resolve it and he eventually joined, but unless we can get him on loan with a deal sorted for January, it's not likely.
 

Ubik

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He surely hasn't come out badly from this though? He's not been a twat about it and he doesn't seem the type to sulk. Can't imagine it'll be another Llorente situation.
 

RedRonaldo

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Our negotiation team need to hang theirselves, from Fabregas bid to Herrera collapse deal, we have been acting like a complete joke.
 

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Why would he get the Llorente treatment? He hasn't thrown his toys out of the pram and hasn't done anything wrong other than be willing to move to a much bigger club if his release clause is met. It's not like he handed in a transfer request or did anything to disrespect the club.
 

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So, that's Herrera's career at Athletic then. I hope for him they have at least a confortable bench. :lol:

Seriously, I just feel bad for the kid. Our absolute amateurish prick of a chief executive has really screwed him over. As Bilbao said and has been demonstrated over and over, if you want to sign a player from them you pay the buyout clause- what the feck was Woodward thinking telling Herrera he'd pay it and then trying to negotiate it down? I know this word is getting thrown around a lot this summer, and often inappropriately, but how we've behaved in this case is embarrassing and Woodward should fall on his sword. We can't have a man like this as our primary representative in our business dealings.

It's bad enough that we have a frosty relationship with most agents, we start double crossing the players and aggravating the other clubs- who the feck is going to want to do transfer business with us?
 

Rood

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We gave up at least a couple of hours before the deadline, no?

Anyway, it still begs questions on why we left it til the last day, his release clause has been there all summer, even if he wasn't our first choice, we could've made an opening bid early last week and had it done by Friday, but that would be too sensible for us.
I agree that we should have tried to do it earlier, who knows what is going on behind the scenes though?

I think in the end it comes down to not agreeing a fee with Bilbao - if they clubs had agreed then the deal can be sorted quickly, but going the release clause route is a whole different kettle of fish
 

Shane88

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Seriously, I just feel bad for the kid. Our absolute amateurish prick of a chief executive has really screwed him over. As Bilbao said and has been demonstrated over and over, if you want to sign a player from them you pay the buyout clause- what the feck was Woodward thinking telling Herrera he'd pay it and then trying to negotiate it down? I know this word is getting thrown around a lot this summer, and often inappropriately, but how we've behaved in this case is embarrassing and Woodward should fall on his sword. We can't have a man like this as our primary representative in our business dealings.

It's bad enough that we have a frosty relationship with most agents, we start double crossing the players and aggravating the other clubs- who the feck is going to want to do transfer business with us?
Some people might say you're being hysterical but I think you make a good point. Say Herrara is frozen out now at Bilbao, we would've caused that. Players from other clubs might think twice about coming to us or showing an interest in us if they think we're going to dick their club about and leave them in an awkward situation.
 

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Difficult to take this moral high ground we love too?
 

Fergie's Man

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I still don't accept that the men in suits were there by their own volition. Surely they were hired by Woodward to try and do a last minute negotiation?

I bet they offered their services earlier in the day and awaited the call from Weirdy Woodward.

The upshot of all of this is that lad has been hamstrung by us. The Bilbao fans will know he wanted to leave and was even prepared to take a cut in wages to make it happen. I am sure he can't wait until his next game.

We have been poor, as poor as our recent form.
 

Rood

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It's the likely thing, but there have been several reports over the day whereby we have distanced ourselves from that (quite obvious) option. I don't trust half the media outlets but it's on the BBC as well...
All just unconfirmed speculation though - Im sure we will hear more over the coming days. Those lawyers will want to clear their names for a start.

I am certain it is all just a case of 'lost in translation'.
 

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The fallout will be, when ever United calls on a player next, they will not trust United not to let them hangout to dry, whilst trying to bargain the price down after showing warm interest.
 

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All just unconfirmed speculation though - Im sure we will hear more over the coming days. Those lawyers will want to clear their names for a start.
It's quite clear they weren't impostors. They worked on the Martinez deal by all accounts, so they were obviously there for one of the parties to aid the deal. I think they have been screwed over once the deal looked like it was off.
 

Rood

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I really hope Sid Lowe is right, and there's just some kind of communication mix up.
If you read between the lines of what he is saying, it suggests that the lawyers were hired by the player and perhaps United didnt know much about it.

Perhaps Herrera sent them in to see if there was anyway he could buy out his contract or something.

Anyway all just speculation - the real story is likely to come out soon enough
 

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Given the utterly humiliating way this went down I doubt we can even go back for Herrara in January as I doubt we have endeared ourselves to Bilbao or him.
 

jojojo

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My guess based on various tidbits around the press. We had consulted those lawyers and so had Herrera. When United started to back out of the deal (as too expensive or as not Fellaini enough or whatever) we chickened out and said we couldn't do clause paperwork quickly enough rather than just telling the player that we didn't want to buy him.

The lawyers went off to get the paperwork in order, to see if it could still be done (perhaps with the player's blessing) and when the vital moment came and it was time for the money transfer, we disowned them.

Not imposters in the Radio 1 DJ hoax sense or a group of conmen. Imposters in that they couldn't offer money on our behalf.

I'm not too impressed with United right now.
 
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