So the circus isn't coming to this particular town, it's the rent boys for Belgian international Eden Hazard. I honestly don't know what to think about this whole episode. Firstly i haven't actually seen him play, i'm not alone there, i would venture to guess. It's hard to get too worked up one way or another about a player about whom you have heard so much, but seen so little.
Next what United really need is a central midfield player to take replace Scholes when he finally calls it a day, presumably at the end of next season. According to all i have read, he has played mostly out wide, but has told his suitors that he sees his future as a classic number ten orchestrating play in the hole. I'm not arguing we shouldn't be looking to strengthen all over the pitch, but when your'e working on Glazernomics, you have to prioritise. We already have Rooney to play in the hole, though not much back up, i'll admit i'm not a fan of Young in that position. But as we saw last season we are embarrrasingly low on mumbers and quality in the engine room of the pitch.
Some reds have wondered if we were ever really in for him at all or if it was all a ploy to keep fans happy whilst season ticket renewal time is in progress. I think we were probably genuinely interested in him, whether we ever really had a chance of landing him, is of course a completely different question. The circus that increasingly surrounded the drawn out saga, didn't reflect well on the player and his insistence that he would move for footballing reasons have tunred out to be totally laughable. Never mind the £6 million to his agent, and the eye watering salary for an unproven talent, going to a club without a manager and an owner known for virtually picking the team beggars belief. I don't think i'm alone in thinking that whilst he may have turned out to have been a class player for our club, it's hard to believe he was the type of individual that the Stretford end, as was, would have took to its heart.
Still it's hard to get away from the signals this sends out to the world of football about where Manchester United stand stand as clubs attractive to the world's best football talent, and it is firmly on the second tier, alongside Arsenal, if anybody, i suppose. And we all know there is only one reason we have slipped from the top table. If the debt was removed we would be competitive with the oil money and the La Liga two, even if Manchester as a city would still probably mean we would never attract the cream of latin American talent. That's why yesterday's events still had the power to depress.
It seems we have Kagawa's signature all but wrapped up, though in the present circumstances, i'll believe that when i see it. I have seen a little of him and he looks like he will be at the very least a decent squad player. My only problem with that signature is i can't see him working in a 4-4-2 formation, he seems the perfect fit in a 4-3-3 formation as the central midfield player given most licence to get foward.
I saw Nick Powell, the 18 year old the media are saying will sign for us for £4 million playing at Wembley for Crewe in the play offs and he looked reasonably promising. Going off that performance he looked more of a classic number ten himself, than the midfield man some papers had described him as. The goal he scored was absolutely fanatastic and he showed a reasonable amount of vision and skill. It will be interesting to see what Fergie does with him next season, if we do end up getting his name on the dotted line. For all his promise he didn't look first team squad material yet.
Chatter box Dave Whelan managed to hit the headlines again last week, claiming that after Ferguson's nose bleed episode that next season would be his last at the club. I have no idea whether he's on the money or not, but i'm sure that it was of more importance to Ferge himself and to the club, than the media have reported. Unsuprisingly and unconvincingly Whelan's words have been dismissed by a key ally, i wonder why the fears were dismissed on that side of the pond.
I have been arguing recently that all this talk of him carrying on for another five years was far too optimistic. Without this warning, i expected two to three years at most. I really can't see a 75 year old man managing in the premier league, never mind managing possibly the biggest club in the world. Of course the timing couldn't be much worse for the gimps. As someone mentioned on one of the United messgaeboards, if the IPO does get off the ground, Fergie health would have to be assessed and made public. For their long term plans to make as much money out of the club as possible, Fergie is absolutely vital.
Ryan Giggs is raring to get 2012-13 going, telling the official site he still feels good. It was notceable how Scholes return ended up meaning less minutes on the pitch for Giggs, i feel both will play more of a back up role next season, injuries permitting that is. Next season will be a biggie for Tom Cleverley, he started last season so promisingly and looked like he would be a shoe in to go to the Euro's, but those injuries cost him and us dear.
We need a injury free season from him next season, just to prove that we can rely on him to be a part of the clubs future. Of course this will probably mean Scholes won't be playing every game as he basically did when he returned from his retirement. With the introduction of Kagawa as well i'm hopeful that we can start next season as well as we did last season. Staying injury free and hopefully having a more settled back four will be the key to success or failure after that.
According to the Mirror Blackburn boss Steve Kean wants to take Keane and Keane to the club to start a new legal firm, there is probably as much chance of that happening as there is of taking them on loan with the instability at the top of that football club. I'm a bit torn over a loan for Will Keane as i think he isn't far of being good enough for the first team squad as our fourth striker. Of course on the other hand he needs to get regular football and acquire the experience that both Welbeck and Cleverley took from their time away from the club on loan.
I'm not sure it's such a wise move for them to go to the same club though. I have got a lot of time for Michael Keane, but i don't think he is as near first team squad standard as his brother. If we are going to send them out on loan i would like to see Will go out to either a top championship club or a premier league team in the bottom half of the table where he would be sure to get plenty of playing time. Will's name has been linked to Stoke, i'm not too thrown on that, i would be looking at Wigan, somebody like that, a team that plays football but don't score enough goals.
I don't think brother Michael is ready for the premier league, it would be interesting to see him in the championship. I have a hunch he could turn into a decent over lapping right back and that would be an easier way for him to go out on loan and get the much needed experince required to get him ready for our first team squad. They are definitely too good to languish in our reserves. I'll be keeping my eye on who else Fergie sends out on loan next season.
Paul Parker draws the reasonable conclusion to last Saturdays narrow victory by England over Norway that England still have a long way to go. I looked at the team selected before the game and expected little and wasn't let down. I was a bit bewildered that the first half was seen as vaguely encouraging as i just saw the same old England who couldn't keep possession for more than five seconds against as poor a side as Norway showed themselves to be.
To see how far away England are away from being a serious proposition in international football at the moment, have a look at the midfield selected for the Spanish squad and compare them to ours, because the disparity is like looking at a team at the top of the premier league and a team relegated from the premier league. One thing is for sure, it won't be pretty watching our national team this summer, neutrals won't be wetting their lips at the thought of watching Gerrard and Parker in midfield with Carroll up front.
They will do well to get to the quarter finals, i supose with a bit of luck and a backs to the wall defensive attitude they could make the semi's, but to be honest English football needs to find out how really poor it is before it can get better. I'd expect Cleverley and Wilshere to be in that squad for the world cup, injuries permitting, but they need more coming through to give that squad some depth. Of course they have lost Smalling and Kyle Walker at the back as well, but the lack of depth in talent is shocking.
Next what United really need is a central midfield player to take replace Scholes when he finally calls it a day, presumably at the end of next season. According to all i have read, he has played mostly out wide, but has told his suitors that he sees his future as a classic number ten orchestrating play in the hole. I'm not arguing we shouldn't be looking to strengthen all over the pitch, but when your'e working on Glazernomics, you have to prioritise. We already have Rooney to play in the hole, though not much back up, i'll admit i'm not a fan of Young in that position. But as we saw last season we are embarrrasingly low on mumbers and quality in the engine room of the pitch.
Some reds have wondered if we were ever really in for him at all or if it was all a ploy to keep fans happy whilst season ticket renewal time is in progress. I think we were probably genuinely interested in him, whether we ever really had a chance of landing him, is of course a completely different question. The circus that increasingly surrounded the drawn out saga, didn't reflect well on the player and his insistence that he would move for footballing reasons have tunred out to be totally laughable. Never mind the £6 million to his agent, and the eye watering salary for an unproven talent, going to a club without a manager and an owner known for virtually picking the team beggars belief. I don't think i'm alone in thinking that whilst he may have turned out to have been a class player for our club, it's hard to believe he was the type of individual that the Stretford end, as was, would have took to its heart.
Still it's hard to get away from the signals this sends out to the world of football about where Manchester United stand stand as clubs attractive to the world's best football talent, and it is firmly on the second tier, alongside Arsenal, if anybody, i suppose. And we all know there is only one reason we have slipped from the top table. If the debt was removed we would be competitive with the oil money and the La Liga two, even if Manchester as a city would still probably mean we would never attract the cream of latin American talent. That's why yesterday's events still had the power to depress.
It seems we have Kagawa's signature all but wrapped up, though in the present circumstances, i'll believe that when i see it. I have seen a little of him and he looks like he will be at the very least a decent squad player. My only problem with that signature is i can't see him working in a 4-4-2 formation, he seems the perfect fit in a 4-3-3 formation as the central midfield player given most licence to get foward.
I saw Nick Powell, the 18 year old the media are saying will sign for us for £4 million playing at Wembley for Crewe in the play offs and he looked reasonably promising. Going off that performance he looked more of a classic number ten himself, than the midfield man some papers had described him as. The goal he scored was absolutely fanatastic and he showed a reasonable amount of vision and skill. It will be interesting to see what Fergie does with him next season, if we do end up getting his name on the dotted line. For all his promise he didn't look first team squad material yet.
Chatter box Dave Whelan managed to hit the headlines again last week, claiming that after Ferguson's nose bleed episode that next season would be his last at the club. I have no idea whether he's on the money or not, but i'm sure that it was of more importance to Ferge himself and to the club, than the media have reported. Unsuprisingly and unconvincingly Whelan's words have been dismissed by a key ally, i wonder why the fears were dismissed on that side of the pond.
I have been arguing recently that all this talk of him carrying on for another five years was far too optimistic. Without this warning, i expected two to three years at most. I really can't see a 75 year old man managing in the premier league, never mind managing possibly the biggest club in the world. Of course the timing couldn't be much worse for the gimps. As someone mentioned on one of the United messgaeboards, if the IPO does get off the ground, Fergie health would have to be assessed and made public. For their long term plans to make as much money out of the club as possible, Fergie is absolutely vital.
Ryan Giggs is raring to get 2012-13 going, telling the official site he still feels good. It was notceable how Scholes return ended up meaning less minutes on the pitch for Giggs, i feel both will play more of a back up role next season, injuries permitting that is. Next season will be a biggie for Tom Cleverley, he started last season so promisingly and looked like he would be a shoe in to go to the Euro's, but those injuries cost him and us dear.
We need a injury free season from him next season, just to prove that we can rely on him to be a part of the clubs future. Of course this will probably mean Scholes won't be playing every game as he basically did when he returned from his retirement. With the introduction of Kagawa as well i'm hopeful that we can start next season as well as we did last season. Staying injury free and hopefully having a more settled back four will be the key to success or failure after that.
According to the Mirror Blackburn boss Steve Kean wants to take Keane and Keane to the club to start a new legal firm, there is probably as much chance of that happening as there is of taking them on loan with the instability at the top of that football club. I'm a bit torn over a loan for Will Keane as i think he isn't far of being good enough for the first team squad as our fourth striker. Of course on the other hand he needs to get regular football and acquire the experience that both Welbeck and Cleverley took from their time away from the club on loan.
I'm not sure it's such a wise move for them to go to the same club though. I have got a lot of time for Michael Keane, but i don't think he is as near first team squad standard as his brother. If we are going to send them out on loan i would like to see Will go out to either a top championship club or a premier league team in the bottom half of the table where he would be sure to get plenty of playing time. Will's name has been linked to Stoke, i'm not too thrown on that, i would be looking at Wigan, somebody like that, a team that plays football but don't score enough goals.
I don't think brother Michael is ready for the premier league, it would be interesting to see him in the championship. I have a hunch he could turn into a decent over lapping right back and that would be an easier way for him to go out on loan and get the much needed experince required to get him ready for our first team squad. They are definitely too good to languish in our reserves. I'll be keeping my eye on who else Fergie sends out on loan next season.
Paul Parker draws the reasonable conclusion to last Saturdays narrow victory by England over Norway that England still have a long way to go. I looked at the team selected before the game and expected little and wasn't let down. I was a bit bewildered that the first half was seen as vaguely encouraging as i just saw the same old England who couldn't keep possession for more than five seconds against as poor a side as Norway showed themselves to be.
To see how far away England are away from being a serious proposition in international football at the moment, have a look at the midfield selected for the Spanish squad and compare them to ours, because the disparity is like looking at a team at the top of the premier league and a team relegated from the premier league. One thing is for sure, it won't be pretty watching our national team this summer, neutrals won't be wetting their lips at the thought of watching Gerrard and Parker in midfield with Carroll up front.
They will do well to get to the quarter finals, i supose with a bit of luck and a backs to the wall defensive attitude they could make the semi's, but to be honest English football needs to find out how really poor it is before it can get better. I'd expect Cleverley and Wilshere to be in that squad for the world cup, injuries permitting, but they need more coming through to give that squad some depth. Of course they have lost Smalling and Kyle Walker at the back as well, but the lack of depth in talent is shocking.
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