Average age of Rooney-Ronaldo-Tevez at the start of 07/08

VorZakone

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Their average age was just 22. I mean, most forwards are still developing at that age, but these 3 won the CL + league title in 07/08. For comparison: average age of Mane-Salah-Firmino currently is 26-27ish.

For some reason I just find it interesting how young that trio was while destroying defences left and right.
 

el3mel

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Rooney and Ronaldo were already world class at this time. They were far ahead their age when it comes to development. Something like Mbappe nowadays.
 

Sterling Archer

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Dayum, they were that young weren't they. We sold Ronaldo when he was what, 24? Imagine if he'd decided to stay with us longer.
 

Sandikan

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It's why people can get a bit hung up on players not being ready, or too young.
The simple cliché of if they're good enough they're old enough

Rooney was obviously a massive wonder kid who peaked exceptionally early. Ronaldo was a different kettle of fish. But interesting how good they were at a similar age together.
 

Mr.Ridiculous__

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Their average age was just 22. I mean, most forwards are still developing at that age, but these 3 won the CL + league title in 07/08. For comparison: average age of Mane-Salah-Firmino currently is 26-27ish.

For some reason I just find it interesting how young that trio was while destroying defences left and right.
Ridiculous
 

Raees

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How old was Tevez in 07/08?
23/24 I think. Tbh we did not maximise the youth of that trio at all by throwing a spanner in the works by signing Berba. They should have won a few CLs together for us.
 

marktan

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My biggest regret as a United fan is that we didn't really keep that trio playing together for more than like a season and a half. We won the CL in 07/08, signed Berba, and everything went downhill from there.
 

Adisa

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Those three only played together for one more season. What a letdown.
 

Kush

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Rooney and Ronaldo were a force of nature even at that early age, Tevez while he was good at West Ham caught us by surprise with his quality. Scored number of clutch goals during his time here.

It always annoyed me why SAF thought Tevez wasn't worth the money, signing of Berbatov was not required to break up the trio imo.



I'll always look back at this image with nostalgia.
 

rotherham_red

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Rooney and Tevez were freaks. They had over a decade's worth of cumulative experience between them and weren't just playing a game here or there for their clubs - it was week in and week out ever since they were 16/17 and their games were always frighteningly mature.

Ronaldo was a bit different. He was young and learning from 2004 to 2006, but from that point onwards, was a fecking animal.

As an aside, I still maintain that the best Ronaldo we have ever seen was the 2006/07 one - Inclusive of his time at Real and Juve. He had the perfect balance between productivity, functionality and entertainment. Whereas the subsequent season he was all about the end product and ever since the balance has just steadily eroded. Amazingly productive though, but I preferred the dribbling phenom than the potent striker he became.
 

finndt

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Unreal that we once had a front three like that. And still we brought in Berbatov.
 

bond19821982

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Think SAF knew Ronaldo would leave next year and he bought the most in form striker to replace his goals.

Can't blame him.
 

VorZakone

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Think SAF knew Ronaldo would leave next year and he bought the most in form striker to replace his goals.

Can't blame him.
Do you remember who the other strikers were that United was interested in? Or were all eyes on Berbatov from the get-go?
 

Sunny Jim

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Their average age was just 22. I mean, most forwards are still developing at that age, but these 3 won the CL + league title in 07/08. For comparison: average age of Mane-Salah-Firmino currently is 26-27ish.

For some reason I just find it interesting how young that trio was while destroying defences left and right.
So here i am again to ask the same question...why the f did SAF sign Berbatov. Made no sense whatsoever.
 

#CR7

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Do you remember who the other strikers were that United was interested in? Or were all eyes on Berbatov from the get-go?
I remember we had a £20m bid rejected for David Silva that same summer we signed Berbatov. What a signing that would’ve been.
 

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That team had the perfect mix of age, experience and youth. In a great position to transition to another great team.

The transition was fecked up though with the lack of investment combined with youth not realising their potential, and the obvious loss of Ronaldo.
 

POF

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So here i am again to ask the same question...why the f did SAF sign Berbatov. Made no sense whatsoever.
Fergie knew Ronaldo was going to leave, so he was bought to partner Rooney up front when Ronaldo left. It seemed like the plan was for Berbatov to play as a number 10 and add more creativity to the team.

Even though Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez were a very good trio, Ronaldo was easily the standout player and scored a lot of individual goals. You can see why Fergie felt he needed a more creative player in his absence.
 

Pat_Mustard

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A never-nude? I thought he just liked cut-offs.
We were strongly linked with AS Roma's forward Marko Vucinic and then Valencia forward David Villa.
I love Berbatov but Villa would have been incredible for us.

Rooney and Ronaldo were a force of nature even at that early age, Tevez while he was good at West Ham caught us by surprise with his quality. Scored number of clutch goals during his time here.

It always annoyed me why SAF thought Tevez wasn't worth the money, signing of Berbatov was not required to break up the trio imo.
As good as Tevez was in his first season for usI thought he looked a bit ragged and short on quality relative to his reputation. He made up for it with his relentless workrate and understanding with Rooney and Ronaldo, but in terms of individual quality I was hoping for slightly more based on what I'd seen from his earlier career. He only really showed his absolute peak form individually in England after joining City imo.
 

Web of Bissaka

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It always annoyed me why SAF thought Tevez wasn't worth the money, signing of Berbatov was not required to break up the trio imo.
Iirc, I can be wrong with this of course, at that time...

...Tevez and his agent played the long negotiation game with the club and Ferguson, asking for ridiculous amount of wages. We had a strict wage policy in those days. No idea how much their demands are from our club, but Ferguson did said there is a contract offer in place and they don't took it. Individually, Tevez at that time is just not yet at his best, not good enough to be the main guy, he's just one of the superb trio, there are clear lackings to his game, not worth the stupid astronomical wages which he then got from MCity imo. Ronaldo and Rooney are clearly better, Tevez's role is more minimal compare to them, and it's likely Tevez and his agent demanded more money than what his role deserve, perhaps even demanded more wages than our 2R.

---

Agree that Berbatov doesn't break the trio.
Why the f are posters blaming Berba and Ferguson in this?
It's a combination of Tevez/his-agent delaying their negotiation and Ferguson have always plan to play four of them in rotation format but different system 4-3-3 like the Cole-Yorke-Teddy-Ole days, with Roon-Ron the certain starters (Nani played less and less this season) so that leaves us with Berba who just joined so more games for him, rotating with Tevez who had a chance of leaving the club thus less games.
 
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Giant Midget

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Berbatov was a cool guy and a class player with a sexual first touch, but his style was just all wrong for us. We were a pacy, counter attacking side and suddenly had this dude spearheading our attacking who played as if he was walking around in slippers and smoking a cigar.

Should have gone for a more pacy, mobile forward like Saha than Berbatov.
 

Invictus

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23/24 I think. Tbh we did not maximise the youth of that trio at all by throwing a spanner in the works by signing Berba. They should have won a few CLs together for us.
Yep, don't think any current combination of youngsters would even compare with what those three had already achieved...Tévez was thrice South American Footballer of the Year, Olympic Golden Boot and Copa Libertadores Player of the Tournament by age 21, Rooney was Ballon D'Or 8th before turning 19 and twice PFA Young Player of the Year, and Ronaldo was arguably the best player in the world for consecutive seasons — Kaká's incredible Champions League displays and Messi's ascent to superstardom notwithstanding. Only Mbappé has comparable accomplishments from the current lot of young forwards, which speaks volumes about the potential of the trio we had back then — and what they could have achieved with United over the long term.
Do you remember who the other strikers were that United was interested in? Or were all eyes on Berbatov from the get-go?
Aside from the ones that have been mentioned already, United were also linked with Benzema from Lyon: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/feb/22/newsstory.lyon, and Agüero from Atlético: https://www.marca.com/2009/06/23/futbol/equipos/atletico/1245778063.html. Agüero is the one we should have gone for, really — consistently linked with us ever since he made his Independiente debut, and would have been a signing along the lines of Cristiano and Tévez in terms of both talent and age profile. IIRC, he was also recommended to the club by Forlán — who played alongside him at Atlético and couldn't resist singing his praises.
 

Big Ben Foster

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Do you remember who the other strikers were that United was interested in? Or were all eyes on Berbatov from the get-go?
We were linked to other strikers, but I remember as far back as 2007 reading that SAF was a huge admirer of Berbatov and wanted to bring him to United. So I think he was our top target.