Ashley Young checks in

Well that's the second signing of the summer sown up with De gea hopefully wrapped up soon, though we may have to wait until July to see that one wrapped up. I am happy with our business so far, i think and hope that Young will turn out to be a Dwight Yorke mark two in the sense that an awful lot of reds seem to be underwhelmed by the purchase, but i think that a couple of months into the season they will be glad we got him and Dalglish didn't tempt him to Liverpool.
Young can't wait to get started at United and appreciates the size of the club and the expectations that will be placed on him but is looking foward to the challenge. Ian Ladyman makes a good point about our predictability last season, i would say it was more of a problem away from home, but it was there and it was a problem. I suppose the speculation will now start on who leaves the club, will Nani want out or will Fergie get rid of Berba, a player he doesn't reall seem to trust. Even though United denied the PSG bid rumours it would be no great surprise if he left the club this summer. As long as Nani wants to stay at the club, a big if if some of the rumours are to be believed, i can't see United letting him go.
One player nobody really thinks we will land this summer is the hotly rated Chilean Sanchez of Italian club Udinese. Andy Mitten explains why United will always come second to Barca and Real Madrid in the quest for the very best of South American talent. And that's the reason why i have always preferred us to go for the best of northern European talent.
As to the failed attempt to land the French youngster Varane, i'm not sure how serious our interest can have been after the capture of Jones from Blackburn. He may turn out to be the real deal, but i think we can all see that we already have two future United and England centre halves in Smalling and Jones. I expect both to get at least twenty to thirty games next season, though Jones may be used as much in midfield as in defence.
A lot of reds are moaning at the lack of a central midfield acquisition so far this summer. I have to admit that was what i wanted and hoped for, but i always knew that we weren't going to replace Scholes that easily. As Gary Neville says in this pretty illuminating interview, there is no like for like replacement for Paul Scholes out there, the nearest thing to him would be Xavi or Iniesta and that's not happening is it. I would have liked Modric but if his price goes up to £30 million i wouldn't pay that for him, excellent player as he is, he isn't that good. As for the other player we have been persistently linked with, Sneijder, i just don't see Fergie being in the market for him. We have got Rooney who likes to play in the hole and have added Young who can also play there with Morrison to be added to the mix over the next couple of seasons ( he says hopefully ), so i can't see Fergie spending big money and big wages on a player who wouldn't be guarenteed to get into our starting line up for the crunch games.



Mark Lawrenson thinks it's a shrewd piece of business from Fergie and writes of his surprise that Chelsea didn't go in for him, he could have mentioned City as well. Maybe their experience of purchases from Villa, Barry and Milner haven't exactly set the world on fire put them off. That would be classic City if they end up paying over the odds for two pretty ordinary players and we get the real gem for what could turn out to be a bargain.
Daniel Taylor recounts the signing of Jesper Blomquist and his subsequent career at the club to show the challenge facing Ashley Young. It's a good story, but from Blomquist's point of view doesn't mention the fact that he left the club with a championship medal, an FA cup medal ( something a lot of our current squad don't possess ) and most valuable of all a champions league appearance and medal even if it wan't his best performance. It would seem the signing has got the rest of the squad on its toes as Valencia tells his native Ecuadorian press he is ready to fight for his place. Valencia will be alright, Fergie loves him as do i. He had a shocker at Wembley against Barca though, i really thought we were going to get a big performance from him and truth be told he had a nightmare. I still haven't brought myslef to sit through the whole ninety minutes of that football lesson form the best team in the world but will have to suffer it before the new season begins.
Alan Hansen felt Fergie had a major rebuilding job on this summer after a championship won despite a less than stellar season performance wise. And so far he thinks he is doing a good job and is yet another pundit who regards Young as an excellent signing and great addition to the squad. He feels United will have to start the season as favourites for the title if Fergie could coax the club the title last season in spite of some of our dire performances.

Jim White blogs that United may not be in the market for a midfield player contrary to popular belief. And then puts forward his belief that Rooney dropping back into the middle of the park could be Fergie's answer to the absence of Paul Scholes.
This theory has been around a while that Rooney's destiny is to be a midfield general. I am afraid that i really don't buy into this and never have, he is a forward who is equally adept at playing in the hole, that doesn't make him a central midfield player. He could end up there in his thirties to prolong his career but i can't ever see him playing their at the peak of his career.
It may be wishful thinking on my part but i stil believe that Fergie thinks that we already have the future of United's midfield at the club in the shape of Morrison, Pogba and Tunnicliffe. And all the talk of United's squad for next season seems to have forgotten that Cleverley and Welbeck will be added to the squad next season. Whether Cleverley lives up to his promise or not if he is given enough games and i suspect he will be, we will have a goalscoring midfielder at last who is almost guaranteed to get near or even hit double for the season.

I think Hernandez may not figure too much at the start of the next campaign as his summer holidays haven't even started yet after a fanfastic and triumphant Gold cup with Mexico that saw him end as the tournaments leading scorer. He revealed how United have helped build him up ahead of yesterday's final against the USA in front of 93,000 fans at the rose bowl. He has had some fairytale year, he must wonder if it can get much better.
I didn't see the game but it sounds like it must have been some spectacle with Mexico coming from 2-0 down to take the trophy 4-2.

This is a very fair assessment of where our squad is at the moment. I totally agree with the comments regarding a front three, that saw United play our best and most exciting football in recent seasons and that is why i was really glad that we bought Young.
I don't buy the argument that Jones is too young, he has been excellent for Blackburn this season and was outstanding against us and for Fergie if your good enough you are old enough. Who knows he may allow Carrick to express himself further up the pitch and rcapture the creativity of 2006-2008 that he hasn't really shown over the last couple of seasons as he has dropped deeper.
If we have to mend and make do for a couple of season to allow the youngsters to find their feet in the first team then so be it, we do have some unbelievably spoilt fans at the moment who think it's our devine right to be champions every season. As i have said before, the most you have any right to expect, is to challenge for the top honours. Let's face it when Fegie finally walks off into the sunset we may have to get used to a pre-Ferguson world where even that was far from guaranteed.

The crisis in the Eurozone with Greece hovering over a sovereign default and the break up of the Euro has dominated the news over the last week. Jon Snow blogs on why Greek debt is NOT a bore.
Amartya Sen argues it's not just the Euro, European democracy itself is in danger, i suppose that would seem over the top, but given European history, i don't think it is, it is that serious.
Mervyn King orders banks to start revealing their true exposure to Greece through their lending to other European financial institutions. Well at least if Cameron and Osborne are asleep at the wheel the Bank of England have got their eyes on the road.
Bagehot argues nobody likes a back seat driver as tory backbenchers argue we must do something about the crisis but don't make any kind of convincing case for what we should do. Martin Wolf writes that it is time for some common sense on Greece and time to face the inevitable and to plan for it. Where are the political giants that could actually lead us along that path. I wasn't and still aren't Gordon Brown's biggest fan, but he was positivelly Churchillian compared to Europe and this countries current leadership.

Peter Oborne argues that in fleeing Afghanistan the west relinquishes its grip on the world. It may well do so, but is that such a bad thing. What is the advantage to the west of fighting unwinnable wars that undermine their influence and cost the taxpayer at a time of maximum economic turbulence.

Kate Mossman ahead of Glastonbury weekend poses a very pertinent question asking why American bands are so much better at making muic than us. That's a bit broad bush, there are plenty of excellent British bands and artists but over the last few years the best new acts seem to have been coming from across tha Atlantic. Musicianship is part of it, but for me the best US acts are far more adventurous than ours. I suppose the way we over hype up and coming bands doesn't help. I have been listening to the Vaccines debut album recently and whilst it's a decent listen it isn't anything special.
Saying that Elbow were magnificent at Glastonbury last night if the clips on the Beeb were anything to go by. How are Coldplay more popular than them, i almost felt sorry for them in having to follow Guy garvey, what a front man he has become, and his band, but not quite. I really can't stand Coldplay.