Why isn't this in the transfer forum?
Anyways. It is really discomforting that so many in here wants us to drop Carrick... I've always said that Carrick and Alonso where similar types of players, look what happened to Liverpool when they dropped him. Everyone has bad and good seasons, this is not Carricks finest. But don't forget, that Carrick is arguably the signing of the last decade - big words but I stand by them... He got the midfield back to what it once was. He is brilliant at positioning himself of the ball, and a brilliant playmaker. Manchester United needs his talents! Giggs and Scholes are approaching the end of their amazing careers, and it will be really good to have a playmaker of Carricks stature when they retire, selling Carrick could just as easily become the worst signing of this decade just as well as signing him last decade might have been the best signing. If someone offered us £30m for him we still should not sell..
Same thing with Berbatov, as the guy ahead of me states, we will probably not get more than perhaps £15m for Berba, and that is just stupid, because he is potentially worth a lot more than that. Rember the 1999 final against the Germans? We go out to play are usual lightning fast counter attacking game, when Bayern gets a lucky early goal, and play destructive ultra defensive football, making counterattacks impossible. Then we have to play possession football, and that is where Berbatov is best, if we get into a similar context of that in 1999, I am sure Berbatov will be a true asset. He is getting into his thirties, he has sat a lot on the bench lately and has not moaned once - that is worth a lot. Last season Berbatov was among the top assists in the Premier League, and top, this season he has scored more goals scored more than any other 2nd forward scorer until last game when Adebayor bypassed him there.. He is more effective than Bendtner, Arshavin, Anelka, Bellamy. He is more effective than anyone Aston Villa has. And that is from a goalscoring perspective, we know that Berbatov has quite a few assists as well. Compared to others, he is really not doing that bad, especially since our main formation has been 4-5-1 this season and he has been a bit of a reserve. (that is because of the quality of the midfield, not our forward lineup) Berbatov is a attacking playmaker, but when we have such a bad attacking midfield as we have right now. You won't get to see the best of Berbatov without a world class attacking midfield, something that we should have, but we don't have right now. I think Berbatov is the kind of player that can get very old and still perform, I think he has 5-6-7 good years left, and I hope he ends his career at Old Trafford - not necessarily as a first choice forward, but definably as a part of the squad.
I don't think we have to sell to much. We sold players for £86m + Tevez turned us down for £25m this summer making it a total of £111m of players dropped last summer. According to Gill, the money is there - it would be a very stupid thing to say if its not true, so lets hope it is... And it should be spent on a left winger and a attacking midfielder and apart from that I think we dropped what needed to go last summer. I think a first class left winger and attacking midfielder should be the priorities.
Sir Alex has do get one of his talents right soon, because he usually does. My money is that at least one of Diouf, Hernandez or Macheda will get a really good season next season. If Chicharito is half as effective as he was/is in Mexico - he will provide a lot for us, and what can we expect from Obertan next season?