Mails: Actually, United had a great window

Editor F365
Van Gaal Shifts Focus to Woodward

Actually, United had a great window but West Ham had the best. It’s a busy Mailbox chock-full of Arsenal, obsolete transfer fees and Michael Hector: The cheese string trying to play football.

If you have anything to say on any subject, mail us attheeditor@football365.com

 

#headsgone
So now the transfer window is shut, will every player’s head magically become ‘right’ again? Praise Jebus, it’s a miracle.
Martin Mannion

 

With Pleasure
Dear Ms Winterburn,

It’s 1801 on Transfer Deadline Day. Now you may post your article about Wenger and the lack of signings.

Yours lovingly
Rich (Never wanted to win the league anyway), AFC, London

 

Would You Rather…
Mailboxers – Would you rather be Arsene and add just one good player to your team than a LVG or Rodgers and tumble the squad upside down.

It is starting to seem like United (ROYALLY) and Liverpool have messed it up while Arsenal just strengthened.
Sudarsan Ravi (In other news, I hope to see my favorite player De Gea between the sticks. Cheer up David.)

 

Load Of Papy
Chelsea are starting to look like Spurs when Redknapp signed Ryan Nelson and Louis Saha thinking they would be good enough to do a job. That person who last week said Chelsea were the business model to follow for transfers was definitely trolling.
Stefan CFC

 

Transfer Fees Don’t Matter Anymore
I’ve written in before about how it is a sad state of affairs when we all know the names of our clubs Chief Execs/Chairmen/Money-men, and after the madness of the last few days I feel compelled to put fingers to keyboard again.

So Man Utd have bought an unknown (be honest, he doesn’t even qualify for the ‘relatively’ prefix) for £36 Million? What a maniac/idiot/liability that Ed Woodward is! Now I know football is largely about banter and taking the p*ss out of each other’s teams’ failings, but to slag off the guy making the transfer deals is just plain dull isn’t it? It amounts to “Hey, my club’s finances are run more sensibly than yours – na na nana na”. Get a grip!

We can probably all agree that football is getting / has been ruined by money, but we are all surely making it worse by even mentioning the money men by name. Transfer fees are just nonsense. There is so much money in the Premier League it doesn’t matter what the number is.
G.West (Man Utd fan – although I’m not sure I would recognise half the squad if I saw them in the street now!)

 

Defending Man United
Greetings F365,

An impassioned defence of my club:

– Your homepage splash on the morning of Wednesday 2 September details how United’s move for Anthony Martial is “eye watering”. The fee will rise to £59.7m, no less! No mention there that the £20m-plus in add-ons will be payable for feats such as the player achieving top goal scorer or best player in the world status; surely such accolades would make the additional fees worthwhile? Yes, it’s a lot of money overall, but people must realise that this is the market we’re now operating in. Funny how at the same time the football world is collectively creaming themselves over City paying £49m for a player with less goals than Martial last season, £55m for a Chelsea cast off and £35m for a defender who has one top class season under his belt.

– Generally, there is a trend to admonish United for their efforts and allow our rivals to escape censure. One can only imagine the reaction if United missed out on their £40m-rated centre back target and then raided Reading on Deadline Day for a 24 year old whose loan moves tally into double digits. Worse still, imagine if United hadn’t signed one solitary outfield player despite having three months and £200m in the bank to play with. Yes, Wenger is getting a bit of a hammering, but the level of hysteria if it was United…

– Daniel Storey, someone I find to be a fine journalist, was completely wrong when he claimed on Twitter that Liverpool’s dealings have been better than United’s. Let’s look at this properly: Rodgers has failed to strengthen his porous defence, his midfield becomes more and more workmanlike, while his £30m striker’s only goal to date should have been chalked off. Granted, United’s window hasn’t been perfect, but there are signs of real solidity in defence, we have midfield options that would walk into Liverpool’s side, while we’ve ditched the dreadful Galactico policy in favour of investing in some of Europe’s finest attacking talent, a United preserve. Sure, it may take a little more time to come to fruition, but it will be infinitely more rewarding as far as this correspondent is concerned. Sure, I would’ve liked Pedro, but it seems unnecessarily pissy to complain about one aborted signing when you look at our transfer window body of work as a whole.

– De Gea. Greatest transfer saga of all time? Irrespective, he’s now a United player until the end of the season (although I’ve a sneaky suspicion that he’ll extend his deal) and that’s a game changer that puts United firmly in the title picture. There’s been a lot of nonsense about how he’s likely to be devastated by the Real deal falling through. Let’s be clear for a moment – there are far worse fates than playing in goal for United, earning £60k a week and enjoying the adulation of an entire fan base. De Gea, a balanced character, will realise that and get down to the business of winning his place back; he desperately needs to apply himself if he wants to play at Euro 2016, which will only benefit us.

Cheers,
Bobby

 

Good Business
Overall, I am satisfied with Manchester United’s transfer window. This window has been about getting rid of deadwood and skimming the wage bill more than any thing.

Let’s be honest, we have been successful in strengthening 2 most worrying positions: Goalkeeper, by retaining DDG (albeit a little pissed off) and central midfield by getting Morgan and Basty.

As far as defense is concerned, we have gotten Darmian who I rate highly, whereas every other player has improved. Our forwards include Rooney, depay, mata, fellaini, Herrera and the kid martial. Pretty good in my opinion.

I believe we expected a lot. We expected some marquee signings. But if anything last season taught us, it was marquee signing don’t always work. Di Maria and Falcao case in point.

I am optimistic of our chances this season. Let’s get behind the team and the Manager.
Muhammad Omair Tanveer , Karachi (GGMU)

 

Back Off, Gooners
I’m sorry but us gooners can’t seriously have a pop at United for signing potential.

We signed Walcott who has never delivered on his initial promise and has subsequently signed every contract at the club on the back of what he might do.

He’s the Scrappy Doo of world football.
Graham Simons, Gooner (lemme at ’em, lemme at ’em), Norf London

 

He’s A Soul Man
A quick reply for Rob, Kingswinford. Mate, if that is the “soul” that LvG has allegedly ripped out of our club, then good riddance. It’s no wonder this club has not come remotely close to competing at the top for so long (and by “so long”, I mean two seasons so far). Not a single one of those players mentioned has pulled his finger out for this club from the moment Ferguson left, with the possible exception of Ferdinand, who proved to the world he was in decline with a disastrous season at QPR. Every single one of them turned in terrible performance after terrible performance, despite picking up their massive salaries. All three of Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra were well past their best. Their experience is missed, but none were priceless to the cause any longer.

I understand your feelings about Fletcher, Evans, Cleverley and Welbeck. All were academy players, but none were good enough at the time of their release. The same applies to Rafael, Nani, Hernandez and Van Persie. They simply weren’t good enough, and if they did still have it, they weren’t putting in a shift any longer. I will miss their character, and all of them saw league and cup titles, but the trith is that players move on, and sometimes they move on in bulk, as they have done this time. It’s a reality I came to terms with some time ago.
Harry The Manc

 

A Cheese String Trying To Play Football
I am a Chelsea fan who had horrible misfortune of being a Reading FC season ticket holder last season and I am extremely worried by the Blues recent aquisition of the useless gangle that is Michael Hector. He is like watching a cheese string try to play football. He didn’t even win Player of the Season at a team that finished 19th in the Championship and regualrly contained footballing talents like Pavel Pogrebnyak and Anton Ferdinand. The only reason I can see for this unnecessary transfer is that Jose owed old pal Stevie Clarke a favour; a £4 million shaped favour. Also don’t Chelsea have Tomas Kalas and Kenneth Omeruo out on loan already so what was the point?
Alex CFC Harding

 

Best Window? West Ham
I am biased, I know this. But, West Ham in my eyes have done by far the best business this transfer window. You can’t really argue with Sterling, De Bryne and Otamendi but in the real world where money doesn’t grow on barrels of oil bringing in 12 players for 32 mil (whilst also offloading Nolan, Jarvis, Cole Jussi etc.) has got to be applauded. Arguably every single one of those 12 signings has made the first team stronger, to say I’m a Happy Hammer again is a massive understatement!

Last year I was tweeting DG almost after every game telling him they’ve got to sack BFS and was wondering if they actually had a plan of where they want to take us. Well, I think it’s pretty clear now that Gold, Sullivan and Brady are possibly the best thing that’s ever happened to West Ham.

Brilliant work guys! Sorry for ever doubting you.
Steve (fade and die? No chance) Coatsworth

 

A Lot Of Footballers Exist
Having a quick look through your transfer ins-and-outs pages, I was struck by something I’ve not seen receiving much coverage – the sheer number of players leaving each premier league club.

For all that the likes of me moan about the biggest clubs stockpiling talent and then letting it rot on their benches and treatment rooms, dressing this argument up as ‘this is ruining our beautiful game!’; really I’m just jealous that there’s a load of good players doing jack s*** every week, while I have to put up with watching the latest batch of cretins Villa have picked up from the charity shop in a given season.

And in truth, when you do take a wider perspective on the whole game, you realise we’re all doing it. Between all the releaseds, frees and loans leaving prem clubs in this window, I reckon you could easily put together teams – or even squads – of a high enough standard to fill the two Champ promotion spots and the four play-off places too.

But how many times do you actually see a prem club put a youth player on the pitch? It’s so rare now that it actually warrants a mention on motd – a teenager getting on the pitch is officially now a highlight in the premier league.

I appreciate this is getting a bit ‘think of the children!’; and players having a crack at life in the big time, not quite making it, then heading off elsewhere to see what they can do is by no means a new thing.

But in these numbers? Why are there so many professional footballers in England who get paid an exorbitant amount of money and yet never play any bloody football?
Neil Raines (should Martial be known as ‘Welbeque’?)

 

Moan With Option To Buy
Can someone please tell me on what planet this recent phenomenon of “loan with option to buy” is in anyway advantageous to the selling club (especially if player is a young emerging talent with minimal drain on your wage bill)? I just don’t see it? Maybe someone can enlighten me? It seems to be a case of dropping trou, bending over a barrel and looking over your shoulder to give a cheeky wink to whichever crafty bugger decides to take advantage. It’s only in the last couple of years I’ve been aware of such options.

If he’s sh#t, club send him back and you’re pissed off because you’re left with sh#t player dragging his big awkward clumsy size 9s around the training field. If he is good you’re p#ssed off because you’ve just let an unpolished diamond be swiped from under your nose because you were just too bloody lazy to develop the young scamp.

“Loan with option to buy” should be confined to The rubbish pile of any clubs transfer policy. It makes zero sense. It’s a lose lose situation for the selling club. Whatever happened to good ole fashioned loans to develop a player and then you can decide to stick or twist. At least the ball is in your court.

Excuse the Freudian slip, but they are nothing but a f##king travesty!
Eoghan

 

Martial Law
Your lead on MUFC signing French teenager Anthony Martial suggests you think they paid a tad much. United could end up paying £58m if Martial becomes the UEFA Player of the Year. So £20m odd more if he’s the next Messi or Ronaldo, in which case he’ll conservatively be worth more than twice what they paid for him. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Besides, the wages paid to a teenager are probably £50,000 a week less than a player of equal ability in his mid-twenties. That’s £ 12.5m over a 5 year contract. Knock that off the £36m, take into account United’s annual income and it’s all a bit of a drop in the bucket compared to what F365 believe United “should’ve paid”.

If it gives you any comfort – there’s a couple of clubs in North London that think exactly like you!
Dave Mack

 

Best Superannuated XIs
With the wholly underwhelming signing of Joleon Lescott, Villa continue their proud tradition of recruiting extremely decent footballers long after their best years have passed. Can anyone beat this line-up of superannuated brilliance?

Peter Schmeichel
Joleon Lescott
Philippe Senderos
Paul McGrath (he was brilliant for us, of course, but I’m struggling at the back)
Richard Dunne
Joe Cole
David Ginola
Paul Merson
Robert Pires
Cyril Regis
Stan Collymore

Bench: Milan Baros, Dean Saunders, Shay Given,
Manager: Gerard Houllier

Sign that lot in their prime and you win the Prem. Sign them when we did and you’re going straight down.
Matt Pitt

 

Arse
I saw an article on the Telegraph’s website – “Arsenal’s Monday Transfer Activity: as it happened”

I didn’t click on it.
James, ReadingFC, Leeds

 

Oh, Spurs
Oh dear.
John THFC, Saigon