Ander Herrera Revisited

[SAFMUTD]

He was a really likeable player, but never worth the salary he was asking, in hindsight him leaving allowed Fred having more minutes and I think Fred is a superior player with a higher sealing.

Ander is in the Smalling, Mata, Shaw category, likeable players that are good but not great which we tend to keep and overpay instead of upgrading them.

 

[MattofManchester]

What initially annoyed me was the fact that he was brought in as a playmaker. A more attacking, creative midfielder after the Kroos deal was vetoed by LVG. Both Van Gaal and Mourinho both believed he'd serve a better purpose as a defensive midfielder, and after winning our POTS award, he became a fairly bit part player. And even in his best season, he was more a utility player than a player with a regular role and position.

In hindsight, from my point of view, I think there was a lot more that we could have got out of Ander Herrera than what we actually did. Alongside him is Mata, who I also don't think we've ever seen the best of.

Ah, but what's done is done.

 

[Canagel]

Overrated. He sits on the PSG bench for a good reason (a much better team than us)

But he was our Roy Keane and future captain here

 

[Ekeke]

We still dont know the truth about the wages and the united offfer. Just as there were rumours he was offered £200k at PSG, there were also rumours that United offered him a pay decrease in a new deal. And he's said himself that United didn't seem to be on same page as him in terms of his role in the squad, that much we do know.

These are huge factors because he wouldnt be worth giving £200k a week, but he also should have got a much improved deal on his previous one and obviously if we offered him a pay decrease and suggested he wouldnt be starting then obviously the club were trying to pressure him to leave. Neither of these should have been correct, but we dont know if they are what happened. They might have been.

Our defensive record has been decent without him but then again we did spend £125 million on defenders in the summer so imagine what it might look like with our best DM of the past few years in front of it. Fred is another hard worker, passes the ball around better this season but as an attacker you'd much rather play against Fred who gets beaten more often than he wins a tackle. You'd be free to have an impact far more often. Maguire & AWB have helped us deal with that but they werent cheap

 

[jem]

POTY? Never

Overrated by many fans. A very useful squadplayer, but never good enough for a regular starting place for a team that challenges for the title.

With his salary demand letting him go was a no brainer. Would never be in the first 11 for a top CL club.

Is now a bench warmer for PSG. And rightly so.

But he did win it one year, didn't he?

 

[clarkydaz]

Never really had a manager who believed in him, probably would have flourished under Oles positivity. i felt he was so eager to please sometimes his performances suffered

 

[Andersonson]

But he did win it one year, didn't he?

Never won that in the premier.

 

[Pughnichi]

POTY? Never

Overrated by many fans. A very useful squadplayer, but never good enough for a regular starting place for a team that challenges for the title.

With his salary demand letting him go was a no brainer. Would never be in the first 11 for a top CL club.

Is now a bench warmer for PSG. And rightly so.

yep. He won the Sir Matt busby poty trophy 2016/17 and looked like he had it in him to step up a level.

I’ll reiterate...I don’t miss him

 

[Ekeke]

Never won that in the premier.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...ter-uniteds-player-of-the-year-award-for-2017

 

[Irwin99]

But he did win it one year, didn't he?

Yep, people weirdly dismiss his 16/17 season where he was our POTY. It's a bit unfair given that this season is unfinished but if you compare his premier league stats from that season with Fred's this season then you'd see Ander performed at a higher level. Ander played 6 more games than Fred (31-25) but I very much doubt Fred would have got near his assists, tackles, interceptions etc had they each played the same amount of league games.

 

[harms]

I still love him and rate his time with us very highly. In hindsight, his current season had been ruined by injuries and I'm not sure if he'll come back the same, he's not exactly young and his game was very much based around his engine, while our other midfielders stepped up, so it looks like a good decision. We still lack numbers in midfield though, albeit less so with Bruno coming in.

 

[izec]

Don't know why people say he was average when he was clearly a good player for most of his time here. Not a world beater, but if he was average, than 80% of our squad was shit. There is some irrational downplaying, wonder why. Maybe it is because his shooting hasn't been consistent or that one time Noble carried him off the pitch. Some seem to watch different games than me. Stats back up his contribution as well for the guys not paying attention to the games. He was an intelligent versatile squad player that either excelled in a high energy CM or DM role, that could play different roles and had strong defensive stats with some clever passing and dribbling from time to time.

And the issue wasnt to give him 300k last year, but to have him tied down years earlier. He was on low wages here anyway and deserved much higher wages after his poty season.

 

[Sandikan]

I had actually forgotten about him for most of the season.

I think this says it all.
We're certainly not missing him, in any way shape or form.

I think any regret on our behalf, is that it's not very often a player that we've offered a deal to walks out for free.
Plus he and Mata were good chaps who said and acted the right way for our great club.

But in truth he wasn't particularly good at any one thing, and that's not on at Manchester United.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Eh?

This tripe.


He did what was best for himself & capitalised on the club not signing him up, no need to play up the sentimentality.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

Said it when he was here but he reminded me a lot of Nicky Butt. Good player and a fighter who gave it all but more someone you could trust to do a job than someone who had enough quality to be a nailed-on starter at a club with United's ambitions. If he'd been happy to stay on squad player wages I'd have loved to have kept him but he wasn't worth moving heaven and earth for.

 

[2 man midfield]

He's good, but not 200,000 a week good. And especially not at 34. Correct decision.

 

[PeteManic]

Average player in a below average era. Nothing more to be said really.

 

[macheda14]

This tripe.


He did what was best for himself & capitalised on the club not signing him up, no need to play up the sentimentality.

Yeh, just thought you using the word ‘millennial’ to disparage it was quite odd.

 

[pacifictheme]

Inspired by this article (first time Luckhurst has inspired anyone I’d imagine):

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So how does everyone feel about Herrera now we've moved on and Fred and McTominay have stepped up? Personally, I felt it was the right decision for both parties at the time and I think there was definitely a time when we could have done with him earlier in the season but we’re talking a few months in what would have been a 3/4/5 year contract. I’ve always felt he’s a limited footballer and he’s reliant on a engine that will start deteriorating soon enough.

I think in hindsight, what was a heavily criticised decision at the time was the right one. I just hope we have the same approach with Jones, Rojo, Lingard and Pereira.

He was a Spanish Tom cleverley. Didn't excel at anything but was alright at a few things.

Hugely overrated on here because 1) we were fairly shite in midfield at the time and 2) because he never got in the Spain team he was always knocking about come international week to do an interview with united where he would say all the right things to make the fans love him, then first chance he got he fecked off and now says the same things about psg. Ha.

 

[Greck]

Every one wants sanity to return to the way we conduct our business till it's their favourite player up for renewal. I'm sure PSG fans are still scratching their heads at what United fans found so special about him.

 

[pascell]

I always felt he was a little overrated. Capable of a great performance mainly in the big games but at many times was found wanting as far as ability on the ball goes. Not giving him a long term deal on a ridiculous salary was a very good decision at the time and has definitely been proven to be correct in hindsight.

Basically this, he had great drive, determination and professionalism but he was limited really, we needed better to further the team.

 

[Kag]

A very good player; one who truly ‘got it’, for want of a better phrase. He’d have been incredibly useful this season, and suggestions to the contrary ignore evidence of Pereira/Lingard midfields. He’s also a better midfielder than Fred and (particularly) McTominay. Herrera bossed midfields in big games; in another team, at another time, he’d have been integral towards titles. I put Blind in that category, too, for that matter.

 

[NinjaFletch]

Tbh I still think he's a significantly better player than Fred, despite Fred's improvement this season and we'd be in a better position were he getting those minutes.

Oh and McTominay too, for that matter.

We haven't missed him as much as we might thanks to those two stepping up, but we'd be a better team were he still here.

 

[berbatrick]

I don't think Fred has shown anything this season (his undoubted best) that Herrera hasn't already shown in previous years. This year's McT+Herrera+Pogba could have been a very good midfield three.

 

[Andersonson]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...ter-uniteds-player-of-the-year-award-for-2017

Thats not the 'POTY' its the matt busby award.
POTY is the entire league...

 

[Ekeke]

Thats not the 'POTY' its the matt busby award.
POTY is the entire league...

its our player of the year

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Didnt agree with the decision at the time but now I feel much better as Fred has improved and Mctomminay is getting better all the time. Having Bruno also helps.

 

[Kostov]

He was a very ordinary player that we managed to replace with Fred, who looks slightly better imo. People were calling for him to be made captain, which tells you all you need to know about United's fan base. He was never captain material even though a very likeable character. Going and spending 40-50m on players like Herrera and Fred demonstrates how shit we have been in the transfer market. Other teams have gone and bought better players for less.

 

[Verbalkint]

Good player to have in my opinion. We usually complain that players don't step it up in the big games, but Herrera always did. One of the best performances in a United shirt vs Liverpool. He was absolutely everywhere, magnificent that day. Said the right things too, I really liked the guy. Maybe not a definite starter every game but his character and tenacity were great attributes to have around.

 

[Rory 7]

I think this says it all.
We're certainly not missing him, in any way shape or form.

I think any regret on our behalf, is that it's not very often a player that we've offered a deal to walks out for free.
Plus he and Mata were good chaps who said and acted the right way for our great club.

But in truth he wasn't particularly good at any one thing, and that's not on at Manchester United.

Yeah. I liked Herrera too but really didn't miss him once the season started.

 

[Zlatattack]

He was a good squad player, we did miss him when Fred wasn't performing, but that's more to do with squad depth rather than Hererra's ability. . He never set the world alight, but he contributed more to our game than Lingard and Periera ever did. I think if we still had him today, we wouldn't need to worry about squad depth, he can step in and perform at a good level consistently, albeit not anything spectacular.

Still probably the right decision to move him on if he wanted massive wages.

 

[hmchan]

I'm actually quite surprised so many think Herrera always stepped up in big games. He did have some great moments in big matches, but also some bad ones, just like many other games. In 16/17 FA Cup against Chelsea, he got his second yellow in the first half and it's basically the turning point of the game. In 17/18 FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham, he was all over the place, pulled out from the match and scolded by Mourinho. Despite scoring a goal later, it's a terrible performance for me.

https://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/news/herrera-mourinho-man-united-cup-14560463

 

[jackal&hyde]

There might be some recency bias here, because I recall everyone being upset at our midfield before Bruno arrived.

Herrera was everything we wanted in a United player. We dropped the ball by not renegotiating much earlier (and compensating him with a much fairer contract). Instead we looked at renewing trash like Lingard.

Not for me. Very limited player over all.

I was not sad to see him move on, i was to not buy someone else. Had Bruno came in the summer i doubt many people would have had a problem with that. Injuries played a massive role this season too with McTominay, Matic and Pogba missing a lot of games for us. It was the right decision to let him go and for me he was a player in the same category as Lukaku and others: decent player but not quite at the level needed to move the team forward.

 

[M Bison]

Amazing how the view has changed, Woody was heavily criticised for not signing him up to a new contract at the time but it definitely looks like the correct decision now. Scholes said it at the time too, not a bad player but easily replaced and we have done without buying.

 

[ZupZup]

I remember watching the Big Debate on Sky at the start of the season and McKola of Fulltime Devils was having a right moan about the fact we let Herrera go but Gary Neville wasn't having any of it.

"So, for me, you’re not crying over Fellaini leaving. Herrera to be fair huffed and puffed, but there’s loads of him around. There’s loads of Ander Herrera’s around. He’s nothing special, honestly. There’s loads of him around... my point is if you said to me put McTominay in there for 30 games this season, will he do a lot worse than Herrera? I don’t think he will."

 

[ivaldo]

Would have absolutely flourished in our current system. His tenacity and ease on the ball would have been well received. Still, McTominay and Fred have stepped up and I'm happy with what we have right now. It's a just a shame we waited so long to offer Ander a contract, particularly when players like Jones were receiving renewals.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

You need players like him to let the more attacking players shine. He had a lot more to his game than the average knob running about putting 50-50 tackles in like Noble but at the same time he was not very reliable health wise, which doesn't bode well for his style of all action play.

 

[arthurka]

It worked out ok I guess.. But he was a very good player for us and always have his all. But we got McT so we really don't miss his shithousery as much as I thought. Sad how his career is getting ruined by injuries.

 

[Nickosaur]

He was a brilliant little player. Put in some legendary shithouse performances for us over the years. Will never forget the Gerrard red card after 30 seconds

 

[Verminator]

I liked him.
He was a bit of a possession recycler, with a good engine, and one of the few we could rely on.
That said, I wasn't at all sentimental about him, when his demands were reported.
I said at the time that, if we were to pay that level for a player, there were scores of midfielders in the world that would offer better value.
He wanted elite money as a 'fairly decent' player.
At that point, I was happy to see him go.