Fabregas

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Burrow

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I dont really see why we are blaming anyone. We tried to buy a great player, he chose to stay at the club after considering a transfer. I would reckon this happens alot more often than we're told in the media.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Spider may be a little over the top, but the fact is that if we were willing to spend a little over half the world record transfer fee, we'd have a world class midfielder by now. Yet again though we've failed to come up with the cash. Which is odd given our financial stature.
We don't know that, though. If there's no indication that a deal can be made, in other words if something approaching "silly money" is the only thing for it, do you then go ahead and start your bidding at 25M - and then increase it slightly, adding...erm...addons and whatnot? It makes very little sense to me. I don't think we took a complete punt in the dark here - a punt which involved launching conspicuously detailed bids.

There's more to this than the size of our bids, I'm fairly sure of that.
 

Red Defence

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Well there's got to be some reason why we wasted most of the transfer window trying to buy a player from Barca who had moved heaven and earth to get there and was almost certainly not wanting to leave to come to United. No-one's come up with a viable reason for the club's odd behaviour yet, other than our lack of money and the board's feeble attempt to try and keep the fans happy by pretending we had enough money to buy practically any player we wished to buy.

When Moyes said he had no transfer budget perhaps he was speaking a tad more literally than we realised.
 

Black Adder

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There was no overwhelming reason why we couldn't get him. He's hardly indispensable at Barca, they might have needed the money, and the last two years were probably a disappointment.

My problem was with the very protracted 'negotiation', driven by unrealistically low bids, and the overly optimistic mood music, which made it seem at one point that we were about to sign him, when it now looks like we were never at the races. The most puzzling United transfer, or attempted transfer, I've ever followed.

I still hope we make a serious bid, £40m+, and see what they say.

:lol:

So let's get this clear: Barcelona said they won't sell, Cesc himself said he doesn't want to leave, but let's bid 3rd time to see what they will say?

:lol: :lol:
 

StuCol

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it was overly cautious from us for sure, I wouldnt call it insulting - Its 25 million pounds after all - I think 30 would have been a good, more realistic opening bid

Look at what Chelsea offered us for Rooney for example

I never felt the transfer was a viable one after Thiago leaving - the timing was wrong - had we offered 30 in early June Barca may have been willing to deal with a mind on keeping Thiago - who knows

my point is that I think it is a real positive that Moyes is even attempting to sign players like this where Fergie didn't

I think we need to target players from teams excluding the elite clubs - the chances of getting a player from Madrid/Barca/Munich/Dortmund atm/Juve/PSG are slim
The problem is that very few believe that 25 or 30 million represents a serious bid to sign him. And let's be honest, it's not really is it, considering?

We are now on the eve of the charity shield, we have not strengthened at all when our rivals have. We have three massive games In the opening weeks with no time to bed anyone in. And one of our best players apparently wants to leave, so either he will leave, or he won't be playing at 100%. It's far from ideal.
 

sullydnl

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I have no problem with us going for Fabregas, obviously we had some information that made us think it was a possibility. It's a shame it hasn't worked out but I guess that was always a strong possibility too. The important thing is that we have other targets in mind now that the deal has fallen through. We can't really judge the way we approached this transfer as we really don't have enough information, but we can judge our results at the end of the transfer window. If we only end up signing someone like Fellaini then it'll be fair to criticise the club's performance in the transfer market. Until then I have faith as I doubt we'd have been so stupid as to assume we were going to get Fabregas.
 

Ruud10

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We have too few verified facts at our disposal to reach any firm conclusions as to what the real agenda was.

My take, which is as useless as anyone else's speculation, is that we were never serious about bringing in Fabregas. My support for that conclusion is that a bid of 25m was far too low of a bid to be of any interest to Barcelona. And even if the idea were to start low and work your way up, it was too low of a bid to be taken seriously. And when we raised that bid to a still absurdly low 30m, it should have been clear this was never going to happen.

Then why? You got me there. The grassy knoll conspiracy theorist in my suspect it was merely an effort by United management to set the table for settling on Fellaini. That may an unwarranted leap, but that's my leap. And take careful note that I do not suggest this necessarily makes any sense.

What makes more sense to me is putting in a serious bid for Modric, who seems more surplus to requirements to Real than Fabregas does to Barcelona. I have no idea whether Real would sell Modric at any price, but an opening bid of 40m would have been difficult to toss in the trash can.

But it could well be that Moyes as surveys the battlefield he sees the following: no way in Hades does he sell Rooney and that what he needs more than a midfielder in the mold of Fabregas and Modric is a midfielder in the mold of Fellaini. Rather than a silky passer in the last third (Fabregas and Modric) he needs a defensive midfielder who's good for the oddball goal off the cross.

Moyes knows a bit more about football than I do, so if that's his judgment then I will defer to him, sit back in my barcalounger and witness the unfolding of events as the gods proclaim.
 

The Neviller

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Everyone needs to calm down a bit. We have no divine right to sign a player once we've bid for him. Fabregas would be a lovely signing, but if it doesn't come off we move on. We've missed out on players before and been ok. We'll be fine.
 

Burrow

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Everyone needs to calm down a bit. We have no divine right to sign a player once we've bid for him. Fabregas would be a lovely signing, but if it doesn't come off we move on. We've missed out on players before and been ok. We'll be fine.
Get your shit together, man. You're going way over the top by the tone of your post!
 

The Neviller

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We have too few verified facts at our disposal to reach any firm conclusions as to what the real agenda was.

My take, which is as useless as anyone else's speculation, is that we were never serious about bringing in Fabregas. My support for that conclusion is that a bid of 25m was far too low of a bid to be of any interest to Barcelona. And even if the idea were to start low and work your way up, it was too low of a bid to be taken seriously. And when we raised that bid to a still absurdly low 30m, it should have been clear this was never going to happen.

Then why? You got me there. The grassy knoll conspiracy theorist in my suspect it was merely an effort by United management to set the table for settling on Fellaini. That may an unwarranted leap, but that's my leap. And take careful note that I do not suggest this necessarily makes any sense.

What makes more sense to me is putting in a serious bid for Modric, who seems more surplus to requirements to Real than Fabregas does to Barcelona. I have no idea whether Real would sell Modric at any price, but an opening bid of 40m would have been difficult to toss in the trash can.

But it could well be that Moyes as surveys the battlefield he sees the following: no way in Hades does he sell Rooney and that what he needs more than a midfielder in the mold of Fabregas and Modric is a midfielder in the mold of Fellaini. Rather than a silky passer in the last third (Fabregas and Modric) he needs a defensive midfielder who's good for the oddball goal off the cross.

Moyes knows a bit more about football than I do, so if that's his judgment then I will defer to him, sit back in my barcalounger and witness the unfolding of events as the gods proclaim.
feck sake.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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I don't think we will sign him, and it seems impossible now, but I believe there was something in this one, even just a glimmer. United spent weeks apparently negotiating, and Fabregas remained silent the entire time, despite all the stories and speculation. I believe if he was always intent on staying, he would have come out and said something 3 weeks ago. It just seems like an awful long time of speculation and bids before the player actually reacts and becomes involved. I think United must've received some sort of encouragement before investing such an amount of time in pursuing him.
 

The Neviller

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We have too few verified facts at our disposal to reach any firm conclusions as to what the real agenda was.

My take, which is as useless as anyone else's speculation, is that we were never serious about bringing in Fabregas. My support for that conclusion is that a bid of 25m was far too low of a bid to be of any interest to Barcelona. And even if the idea were to start low and work your way up, it was too low of a bid to be taken seriously. And when we raised that bid to a still absurdly low 30m, it should have been clear this was never going to happen.

Then why? You got me there. The grassy knoll conspiracy theorist in my suspect it was merely an effort by United management to set the table for settling on Fellaini. That may an unwarranted leap, but that's my leap. And take careful note that I do not suggest this necessarily makes any sense.

What makes more sense to me is putting in a serious bid for Modric, who seems more surplus to requirements to Real than Fabregas does to Barcelona. I have no idea whether Real would sell Modric at any price, but an opening bid of 40m would have been difficult to toss in the trash can.

But it could well be that Moyes as surveys the battlefield he sees the following: no way in Hades does he sell Rooney and that what he needs more than a midfielder in the mold of Fabregas and Modric is a midfielder in the mold of Fellaini. Rather than a silky passer in the last third (Fabregas and Modric) he needs a defensive midfielder who's good for the oddball goal off the cross.

Moyes knows a bit more about football than I do, so if that's his judgment then I will defer to him, sit back in my barcalounger and witness the unfolding of events as the gods proclaim.
feck sake.
 

psychdelicblues

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We have too few verified facts at our disposal to reach any firm conclusions as to what the real agenda was.

My take, which is as useless as anyone else's speculation, is that we were never serious about bringing in Fabregas. My support for that conclusion is that a bid of 25m was far too low of a bid to be of any interest to Barcelona. And even if the idea were to start low and work your way up, it was too low of a bid to be taken seriously. And when we raised that bid to a still absurdly low 30m, it should have been clear this was never going to happen.

Then why? You got me there. The grassy knoll conspiracy theorist in my suspect it was merely an effort by United management to set the table for settling on Fellaini. That may an unwarranted leap, but that's my leap. And take careful note that I do not suggest this necessarily makes any sense.

What makes more sense to me is putting in a serious bid for Modric, who seems more surplus to requirements to Real than Fabregas does to Barcelona. I have no idea whether Real would sell Modric at any price, but an opening bid of 40m would have been difficult to toss in the trash can.

But it could well be that Moyes as surveys the battlefield he sees the following: no way in Hades does he sell Rooney and that what he needs more than a midfielder in the mold of Fabregas and Modric is a midfielder in the mold of Fellaini. Rather than a silky passer in the last third (Fabregas and Modric) he needs a defensive midfielder who's good for the oddball goal off the cross.

Moyes knows a bit more about football than I do, so if that's his judgment then I will defer to him, sit back in my barcalounger and witness the unfolding of events as the gods proclaim.
Indeed.
 

sullydnl

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I don't think we will sign him, and it seems impossible now, but I believe there was something in this one, even just a glimmer. United spent weeks apparently negotiating, and Fabregas remained silent the entire time, despite all the stories and speculation. I believe if he was always intent on staying, he would have come out and said something 3 weeks ago. It just seems like an awful long time of speculation and bids before the player actually reacts and becomes involved. I think United must've received some sort of encouragement before investing such an amount of time in pursuing him.

For what it's worth, Graham Hunter says it was his agent who began pushing this deal. He reckoned it was a sort of window shopping, where Fabregas let us know he'd be willing to move if we got Barcelona to agree to it. Then he waited to see what Barca would do. If they accepted the United bid then he'd be happy to come here as he's be a key player for a big team and earn more money. If they refused the bids then he hadn't lost anything and would be reassured of his position in the team. Either way Cesc couldn't lose.
 

RDCR07

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RUUD10:

What makes more sense to me is putting in a serious bid for Modric, who seems more surplus to requirements to Real than Fabregas does to Barcelona. I have no idea whether Real would sell Modric at any price, but an opening bid of 40m would have been difficult to toss in the trash can.
We cant just go around putting in 40m bids for everyone. This isnt FM. There is absolutely no problem for Modric at Real. He doesnt have too much competition in his position.

But it could well be that Moyes as surveys the battlefield he sees the following: no way in Hades does he sell Rooney and that what he needs more than a midfielder in the mold of Fabregas and Modric is a midfielder in the mold of Fellaini. Rather than a silky passer in the last third (Fabregas and Modric) he needs a defensive midfielder who's good for the oddball goal off the cross.
You are wrong here as well. We need both a creative/playmaker and a defensive mid. Not just one.

Moyes knows a bit more about football than I do, so if that's his judgment then I will defer to him, sit back in my barcalounger and witness the unfolding of events as the gods proclaim.

A bit more? A bit? Really? Do you have a license of any sort other than driving?[/quote]
 

The Neviller

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For what it's worth, Graham Hunter says it was his agent who began pushing this deal. He reckoned it was a sort of window shopping, where Fabregas let us know he'd be willing to move if we got Barcelona to agree to it. Then he waited to see what Barca would do. If they accepted the United bid then he'd be happy to come here as he's be a key player for a big team and earn more money. If they refused the bids then he hadn't lost anything and would be reassured of his position in the team. Either way Cesc couldn't lose.
Sounds like a reasonable take on things.
 

buckooo1978

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The problem is that very few believe that 25 or 30 million represents a serious bid to sign him. And let's be honest, it's not really is it, considering?

We are now on the eve of the charity shield, we have not strengthened at all when our rivals have. We have three massive games In the opening weeks with no time to bed anyone in. And one of our best players apparently wants to leave, so either he will leave, or he won't be playing at 100%. It's far from ideal.
true to some extent.....

at the same time we were pretty decent last season weren't we....

if we lined up at the start of the season with

DDG - Rafa - Vidic - Rio - Evra - Carrick - Cleverley(or Anderson) - Valencia - Rooney(or Kagawa) - Zaha(or Nani) - RVP

we will do well

There's still time - I'd like to think now Fabregas is confirmed and I'm sure the club have known for a few days that things are happening behind the scenes - 10 days till Swansea!!
 

MDFC Manager

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For what it's worth, Graham Hunter says it was his agent who began pushing this deal. He reckoned it was a sort of window shopping, where Fabregas let us know he'd be willing to move if we got Barcelona to agree to it. Then he waited to see what Barca would do. If they accepted the United bid then he'd be happy to come here as he's be a key player for a big team and earn more money. If they refused the bids then he hadn't lost anything and would be reassured of his position in the team. Either way Cesc couldn't lose.
This seems highly likely and I believe we knew that this was the case too. The only thing that I'm slightly disappointed this has taken so long and we're now going to be in a bit of a rush.
 

Ruud10

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feck sake.
Please elaborate.

It would seem useless to me to pee in our pants we didn't land Fabregas so all that's left to do is why we put in bids that even we posters could spot instantly as bids that would be of no interest to Barcelona. Unless, of course, you really believe Barcelona might have been tempted to part with Fabregas for 30m. Is this what you believe?
 

Brophs

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I see you're still going out of your way to make friends, moses.
 

The Neviller

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RUUD10:



We cant just go around putting in 40m bids for everyone. This isnt FM. There is absolutely no problem for Modric at Real. He doesnt have too much competition in his position.



You are wrong here as well. We need both a creative/playmaker and a defensive mid. Not just one.




A bit more? A bit? Really? Do you have a license of any sort other than driving?
He's probably out on license, if that counts?
 

Chesterlestreet

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I can't go to the pub tonight with the shame.
Me, I've grown used to it: A perpetual shame, beaming out from my red, little face wherever I go: "There goes a United fan," people say, "I'd know that shameful look anywhere."
 

RDCR07

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Please elaborate.

It would seem useless to me to pee in our pants we didn't land Fabregas so all that's left to do is why we put in bids that even we posters could spot instantly as bids that would be of no interest to Barcelona. Unless, of course, you really believe Barcelona might have been tempted to part with Fabregas for 30m. Is this what you believe?
Do you honestly believe 25m is enough for Chelsea to sign Rooney? Everyone starts low. I mentioned this before. We are not City. We are not trying to inflate the prices. We dont want to give the impression that we are willing to spend any amount to get our target.
 

Eboue

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We have too few verified facts at our disposal to reach any firm conclusions as to what the real agenda was.

My take, which is as useless as anyone else's speculation, is that we were never serious about bringing in Fabregas. My support for that conclusion is that a bid of 25m was far too low of a bid to be of any interest to Barcelona. And even if the idea were to start low and work your way up, it was too low of a bid to be taken seriously. And when we raised that bid to a still absurdly low 30m, it should have been clear this was never going to happen.

Then why? You got me there. The grassy knoll conspiracy theorist in my suspect it was merely an effort by United management to set the table for settling on Fellaini. That may an unwarranted leap, but that's my leap. And take careful note that I do not suggest this necessarily makes any sense.

What makes more sense to me is putting in a serious bid for Modric, who seems more surplus to requirements to Real than Fabregas does to Barcelona. I have no idea whether Real would sell Modric at any price, but an opening bid of 40m would have been difficult to toss in the trash can.

But it could well be that Moyes as surveys the battlefield he sees the following: no way in Hades does he sell Rooney and that what he needs more than a midfielder in the mold of Fabregas and Modric is a midfielder in the mold of Fellaini. Rather than a silky passer in the last third (Fabregas and Modric) he needs a defensive midfielder who's good for the oddball goal off the cross.

Moyes knows a bit more about football than I do, so if that's his judgment then I will defer to him, sit back in my barcalounger and witness the unfolding of events as the gods proclaim.
Every post of yours is like Atticus Finch making his closing statement.
 
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