Phew, we dodged a bullet there.

[AngeloHenriquez]

Paul Pogba. A bad influence and bad attitude imo.
For what its worth , you lot dodged joe cole , charlie adam and henderson all in less than 2 yrs . Thanks feckers

Having said that all clubs take a hit now and again as well as dodging them , currently liverpool seem to have been getting pretty shot up , but you guys have taken the odd hit too, Veron and tosic , Anderson and Bosnich seem to spring to mind ( and yes i am being serious about anderson )

Well you could well be proved stupidly wrong (RE Anderson) Veron I agree with, although even the best tactician couldn't predict that, it just didn't work. Tosic was an add on to a Liljac deal that didn't happen so it's hard to say as rumours circulate regarding Bebe who was purchased to keep an agent who got us Nani and CR happy as this way we were not handing him a big payment we were paying for a player...

Bosnich I can't really comment on as strangely I do not know much about him

 

[worldgonemad]

Well you could well be proved stupidly wrong (RE Anderson) Veron I agree with, although even the best tactician couldn't predict that, it just didn't work. Tosic was an add on to a Liljac deal that didn't happen so it's hard to say as rumours circulate regarding Bebe who was purchased to keep an agent who got us Nani and CR happy as this way we were not handing him a big payment we were paying for a player...

Bosnich I can't really comment on as strangely I do not know much about him

i,m pretty comfortable in putting my head above the parapet regarding anderson to be honest . Hes been at ot for quite awhile now , and yet for one reason or another not really ever held down a starting place. There is no doubt he has ability , but for god knows what reason he only shows it in flashes.

20 million for a player who has so much vision and technique , over 5 seasons is not a very good return imo. Added to this hes not played for the brazil national team since 2008 and it may point to the fact his career has peaked

 

[thepolice123]

Alexis Sanchez? I remember the caf was so desperate to sign him awhile ago.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

Alexis Sanchez? I remember the caf was so desperate to sign him awhile ago.

He might have been decent here. He wasn't so bad last season and he would have suited our style of play better, he seems to have fallen out of favour with the new manager.

 

[Keltoi]

Berbatov. Oh wait.

Berba almost single handily won us the league, hardly a flop.

 

[MrMarcello]

Possibly mentioned in the previous pages but I recall Cicinho being hotly tipped to join a few years back.

 

[gormless]

Berba almost single handily won us the league, hardly a flop.

No he didn't. He had a good few months whilst Rooney was busy trying to leave, but faded dramatically after Christmas. He was a decent player for us, but for the price we paid, he was a flop.
re-opens can of worms

 

[Gazza]

Quaresma. There's a thread on here from about 2003 debating C Ronaldo vs R Quaresma, and who would be better suited to United. A lot of people - and it was a fair opinion then - went for Quaresma.

Coentrao. When we had Carlos Q and signed a raft of Portuguese it was assumed this guy was on the radar too. Not a bad player, but not a United one imo.

Didier Zokora. Touted as a potential Roy Keane replacement, a claim not investigated until he joined Spurs and arsed around in midfield to no great effect. Djemba-Djemba with a less fun name.

Mark Viduka. At the time it seemed between him and Louis Saha who would join us in January. Glad we got the fast, mobile Saha, Viduka was past it by then and toddled off to M'Boro.

 

[manutddjw]

Alot of people insisted we needed a destroyer in midfield and 2 names that kept coming up were Lass Diarra and Cheick Tiote. Tiote in particular had several stories linking him to United and had a stupid price tag on him. Seeing him this season, I think he falls into the dodged a bullet category.

Also on the subject of holding midfielders, when Mahmadou Diarra was doing well at Lyon, every big club including United were linked with him and he eventually ended up at Madrid where he did well for a season or two and fecked off into obscurity and is now at Fulham.

 

[MrMarcello]

Well United were inevitably linked with Diarra after failing to sign Essien. My how things could have turned out differently had Essien come to United. Diarra not so much.

 

[Gazza]

Berba almost single handily won us the league, hardly a flop.

Buwhaaa? When did this happen?

 

[Keltoi]

No he didn't. He had a good few months whilst Rooney was busy trying to leave, but faded dramatically after Christmas. He was a decent player for us, but for the price we paid, he was a flop.
re-opens can of worms

How do you define a flop? The guy was top scorer in the league and even scored a hatrick against Liverpool!

 

[roon_ronnie]

Dont know if he's been mentioned ...but thank heavens we signed EVDS instead of Paul Robinson.

 

[gormless]

How do you define a flop? The guy was top scorer in the league and even scored a hatrick against Liverpool!

Someone who doesn't play as well as their price tag would suggest. Yes, a hattrick against Liverpool was good. But the top scorer in the league thing has to take into account the fact that he scored 5 of them in one match against Birmingham. Hardly critical goals. He was benched for the second half of the season, replaced by an unknown 7 million signing from Mexico and didn't even make the bench in the most important game of the season. He definitely didn't win us the league single handed. Though I recognise you are exaggerating his achievements with us in order to balance out the people who degrade his achievements with us.

 

[Keltoi]

Someone who doesn't play as well as their price tag would suggest. Yes, a hattrick against Liverpool was good. But the top scorer in the league thing has to take into account the fact that he scored 5 of them in one match against Birmingham. Hardly critical goals. He was benched for the second half of the season, replaced by an unknown 7 million signing from Mexico and didn't even make the bench in the most important game of the season. He definitely didn't win us the league single handed. Though I recognise you are exaggerating his achievements with us in order to balance out the people who degrade his achievements with us.

Surely highlights how well he did that season that he was top scorer and wasnt 1st choice? I agree he didnt live up to the pricetag but he doesnt deserve the flop tag.

 

[Brightonian]

Surely highlights how well he did that season that he was top scorer and wasnt 1st choice? I agree he didnt live up to the pricetag but he doesnt deserve the flop tag.

This. He 'faded' in the second half of the season because he was benched in favour of the Rooney-Hernandez partnership. But he contributed more to our 19th PL win than any of our other strikers, and for me that's more than enough to stop him having been a flop.

Problem is people treat flop and success as black and white, but there are shades of grey in-between, and Berba was one of them.

Coentrao. When we had Carlos Q and signed a raft of Portuguese it was assumed this guy was on the radar too. Not a bad player, but not a United one imo.

How is this a bullet dodged? Ok, we wouldn't have got Evra, who was the best in the world for a few years. But Coentrao himself wouldn't have done a bad job, and right now if you could pick any replacement for Evra to get for free, he'd be pretty high on any list, and probably on top of a fair few people's. What makes him 'not a United player' compared to, say, Buttner, or Fabio?

 

[Gazza]

This. He 'faded' in the second half of the season because he was benched in favour of the Rooney-Hernandez partnership. But he contributed more to our 19th PL win than any of our other strikers, and for me that's more than enough to stop him having been a flop.

Problem is people treat flop and success as black and white, but there are shades of grey in-between, and Berba was one of them.



How is this a bullet dodged? Ok, we wouldn't have got Evra, who was the best in the world for a few years. But Coentrao himself wouldn't have done a bad job, and right now if you could pick any replacement for Evra to get for free, he'd be pretty high on any list, and probably on top of a fair few people's. What makes him 'not a United player' compared to, say, Buttner, or Fabio?

Well he wouldn't be coming as a squad player like Buttner of Fabio, would he? Opinions differ but for me he doesn't look convincing at full-back. Would not be excited to see him at OT, if you would that's fair enough.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Surely highlights how well he did that season that he was top scorer and wasnt 1st choice? I agree he didnt live up to the pricetag but he doesnt deserve the flop tag.

He wasnt a flop. In his first two seasons he was a spanner in the works. His third season was actually decent. I have nothing against him, he wasnt a good fit for United in the first place. I just love taking piss when people compare him to Cantona or claim hes the best thing since sliced bread.