FERGUSON FEARS LOSING VIDIC
Interesting stuff about Manchester United in the papers this morning.
According to The Times, 'Sir Alex Ferguson fears that he will lose Nemanja Vidic next summer.
'Barcelona and Real Madrid want to take Vidic to Spain while the Serbia defender is also being tracked by AC Milan in Italy. Ferguson will try to talk Vidic out of leaving, but he is understood to be genuinely concerned that the player may have had his head turned by the idea of a move to the Continent and is unsure that even the offer of a lucrative new contract would be enough to persuade the 27-year-old to stay.'
There's talk of United demanding £30m for Vidic but with Rio Ferdiannd in clear decline and plenty of money in the kitty after the £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, it wouldn't be much of a consolation, would it?
...AND STARTS TO MAKE NEW LONG-TERM PLANS
The Daily Telegraph is also talking United and gossiping that 'Ferguson is aiming to lure Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik to Manchester United next summer'.
Ferguson is said to be plotting long-term changes with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Edwin van der Sar all out of contract at the end of the season.
'Slovakia international Hamsik, rated at £25 million by Napoli, has been the subject of intensive scouting since the turn of the year and the 22 year-old has been credited as the driving force behind his country's World Cup qualification,' says the Telegraph.
'Ferguson, who is set to turn to his young players in Wednesday's Champions League Group B clash with Besiktas at Old Trafford, has also instructed his scouting network to monitor the progress of Palermo defender Simon Kjaer and Bolton centre-half Gary Cahill.'
BENITEZ TO HAVE NO MONEY TO SPEND
Is it too early to talk about what the implications of Liverpool's early Champions League exit could be for their transfer plans? Of course not.
Declares The Independent:
'But last night's turn of events can only damage Benitez when it comes to the substantial investment in players he needs. With Liverpool carrying debts of £250m, and with the stalled stadium project in need of another £400m, there will be little transfer market activity around Anfield in January - loan deals to reinforce in defence and for a back-up striker are likely - and Benitez is probably looking at a zero net spend in the summer.'
HIDDINK BACK TO CHELSEA?
The Daily Mail has reached the conclusion that 'Guus Hiddink has opened the door for a return to Chelsea as technical director' after the Russia coach, who will have the summer off following their World Cup play-off elimination, announced: "'I am interested in working as a technical director".
"On the other hand, compared to working on the board, where you only have to agree or disagree on various business decisions, the responsibilities of a technical director are more closely related to team affairs.
'This job offers tighter influence on strategy and future development of a club. It is closer to me."
The Mail continues by announcing: 'The plan was for him to informally advise Chelsea after leaving as interim manager at the end of last season, but Stamford Bridge boss Carlo Ancelotti has given his blessing for the pair to work together on a more permanent basis.
'Hiddink is tied to Russia until July and has been offered a two-year extension, but he has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave now following the failure to qualify for the World Cup finals.'
'THE NEW HENRY' TO ARSENAL
The Sun says that Arsene Wenger 'is eyeing up a £14million summer move for the new Thierry Henry.'
Hmm. Did anyone else just roll their eyes at the line 'new Thierry Henry'?
The lad in question is Nice striker Loic Remy, who, according to The Sun, 'looks like the former Gunners striker and his style is similar to Henry'.
Hmm part two.
But it does sound as if the 20-year-old quite fancies the idea of joining Arsenal.
"I often talk about Arsenal with Diaby and Sagna when I am with them in the French team," he is quoted as saying."They tell me that when you are at Arsenal you want to stay there for your entire career."
AND THE REST
Arsenal are set to snatch QPR wonderkid Raheem Sterling from under the noses of Manchester City and Manchester United...Tottenham are poised to make a move for Honduras ace Melvin Valladares...Fulham, Everton and Tottenham are chasing Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker after he was told he can leave the club by boss Martin O'Neill...West Brom boss Roberto Di Matteo is eyeing a £1.5million move for Sheffield United striker Jamie Ward...Derby hope to complete a loan move for Leicester striker DJ Campbell today...Bryan Hughes will quit Hull if he is not part of boss Phil Brown's plans when he returns from his loan spell at Derby.
Your Comments
IClaudius
"mike_christie: I agree with that too, though the reason that Europe's top clubs held sway over the world's top players previously was the English clubs' Europe ban.
My point was that that tide was slowly turning, and Utd were the club leading that and there were a few years around the Veron signing when you probably could have signed anybody (also feel that Torres belongs up there with Veron for a PL coup, though he may not have been as established).
Now, it seems that the tide is back where it was, for whatever reason - if Vidic goes that would probably confirm that. When you need a couple of genuinely world class players to bolster your team, that's not a great situation to be in.
As a Toffee, that's not something that concerns me. Sniffing round Rodwell might - though for £20m I'd personally bite your hand off :) (Again, personally I think Rodwell'd be better off staying put - I'm not sure Sir's (Kidd's? Schteve's?) powers of development are what they were, and there's no arguing with Moyes's talents there)"
LiamSJ
"I think united shud play Nani upfront and re-sign Djemba Djemba, Kleberson, Forlan, Taibi, Veron, Bellion, Jordi, Karel Poborskż and Manucho!
There wud be just no stopping us!!!"
Wenger_hole
"My good lord, I'm popular! People actually agree with me! What on earth happened while I was away? Did the world finally go sane?!
mikey_stop: I am as fleeting and ephemeral as the Texas breeze, I glide and I slide with the turning of the tides..."
mike_christie
"harryboulton, things aren't too bad at United, of those mid-30s players you mentioned, Scholes, Giggs and Neville are squad players these days, not the essential parts of the first team they were in their pomp, Neville in particular has already been effectively replaced with O'Shea, Brown and Rafael all offering excellent options in that position. Fergie seems to know his stuff when it comes to choosing centre backs, so I'm not too worried if Vidic goes. Brown and Evans are both more than capable, and Fergie's scouts are probably already feeding him info on the next relatively unknown Eastern European or Scandinavian to bring in."
mike_christie
"LiamSJ, twas never thus. You can count on the fingers of one hand the number of proven truly world-class players who have joined English clubs at the peak of their careers. Besides Veron its difficult to really think of any. Its never worked like that, can you ever remember United, Liverpool or Chelsea taking their pick of anyone at Real Madrid or Barcelona. Sky have brainwashed people into believing that the rest of the world holds the Premiership in awe and every great player wants to play here. In the mean time the likes of Ronaldinho, Messi and Zidane have all been in Spain or Italy. Ronaldo going to Madrid didn't signify anything, nor did van Nistelrooy going, or Owen, or Beckham, or Mark Hughes and Gary Lineker come to that. Any real world-class foreign player you can think of in England has either come here as potential and made it big (Vieria, Henry, Ronaldo), come here towards the end of their career (Shevchenko, Vialli, Zola) or come here to rebuild their career for one reason or another (Cantona, van der Sar, Bergkamp). Benzema didn't entertain a move to United, nor did Ronaldinho when he left PSG. 4 clubs rule the roost when it comes to luring football's biggest names. I wrote in to the mailbox once before to point this out. Every FIFA World Player of the Year has either been playing for one of these clubs, or moved to one shortly afterwards."
LiamSJ
"'knp_1000' you make good points but id personally still hate to see Vidic leave and i dont really rate any centre backs in the world too highly these days! Vidic, Terry, Puyol are who spring to mind as the supposed best! Lescott cost 24mill and hes looked less then average so far at Citeh! Pique looks good at Barca, shame we let him go! I dont know who we wud replace Vidic with. United have signed this Brazilian kid Dodo at CB....i like Evans but dont rate him with Vidic yet! Jack Rodwell is a player i want at United!!"
harryboulton
"Where there's smoke, there's fire, and there's rather a lot of smoke surrounding this "Vidic to Spain" story.
Personally it would be heart breaking to see him leave. This is another player who we brought in for relatively little, turned him into a world class performer, and now we're losing him to Spain. Again. I'd much rather he stay because even if we get £30m for him and buy in a replacement, we'll then need time to bed them in.
Maybe it's best to have a transitional period at the club though? The last 3 or 4 years have been remarkably successful, but a number of key players are either coming to the end of their careers, or seem set to leave. Ronaldo and Tevez have left, VDS, Scholes, Giggs and Neville are all mid to late 30's, Ferdinand is ever more injury prone and now Vidic may be leaving as well.
Choppy waters may be ahead."
LiamSJ
"'wigclyne' i also agree with 'Wenger_hole' - pulling a guys shirt to stop him going thru on goal, tripping a player to stop him getting past u, or handling the ball to prevent or assist a goal is all cheating to gain advantage. "
knp_1000
"liam it's not a question of saying he won't be much of a loss, it is saying that if an offer of around £25m came in for him we should take it. If he was to go in January (i doubt Fergie would let this happen) it would be bad news because it is mid season, but if he was to go in the summer, for a large amount of cash, when we have the opportunity to replace him, then it is something that should definitely be considered. It isn't just torres who has exposed him, (SWP and Kuyt to name two already this season) and indeed it is not just being exposed that is the problem. It is his complete lack of desire to try and recover from it, preferring to foul and be red carded than even attempt to get back. And that is just the playing side of things. What should also be considered is if he really wants to leave then will he be putting in the same commitment? Don't get me wrong i love the guy, but looking at it objectively he can be replaced.
And i'd say, rather than Barca winning the CL, two more appropriate reasons for players moving to Spain are the hike in tax in England, and the change of Real's president. If it had anything to do with Champions League success why did they not all move in summer 2006?"
mike_christie
"wigclyne, any deliberate foul is cheating you muppet. If a player makes a conscious decision to break the rules to try to gain an advantage, its cheating, whether its a deliberate handball, a dive or grabbing a handful of a player's shirt because he's too quick to deal with fairly. There is no moral difference between Terry choosing to haul Valencia to the ground and Henry controlling the ball with his hand."
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