Manchester United's misfiring midfield: Just 1 league goal from these 4 this season.
It's the January transfer window and United have been very quiet (unsurprisingly) with Anderson leaving for Fiorentina until the end of the season the only in or out so far. United fans and football pundits alike are pretty united in the opinion that the midfield is somewhere that needs strengthening and rumours have been circulating about a whole host of players.
Value for money is something that is normally pretty hard to find, but in January it is nigh on impossible. Many of the players linked with United fall into the category of lacking value for money. Here is a list of some of the players linked, a possible price tag and a verdict on a potential transfer.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Who should Moyes sign? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The table above contains players that have all been linked with a move to Old Trafford in the papers and are not confirmed transfer targets by any stretch of the imagination. Nevertheless a number of these I think can be immediately ruled out. Paul Pogba because of the astronomical price tag attached to his name. Also if he does leave Juve it looks likely that PSG will be the move he chooses. Javier Pastore should be ruled out as he has shown very little, if anything, to warrant the money that PSG spent on him. The kid obviously has talent but 1 goal and 0 assists this campaign is a poor return. Claudio Marchisio in my opinion does that add enough quality to the Manchester United squad. He is a bench warmer at Juventus mainly and probably for good reason. He is 27 as well, which isn't old but you sense that there isn't much more to come from him. Yohan Cabaye is a good quality player and has excelled at Newcastle for the past couple of seasons. But excelling at Newcastle and excelling at Man United are two very different things and we have seen from Marouane Fellaini that this is the case. At 28 he does not offer enough value for money in terms of an investment so can be ruled out. So having immediately ruled out 4, what of the others. I think Man United need to sign 2 midfielders and to be honest any 2 of those players would still be fantastic signings. If I were Moyes I would definitely pursue Arturo Vidal. He scores goals which are vitally lacking from United's midfield and he has experience of international and Champions League football. At 26 he is probably approaching his peak but can still get a good 7/8 years out of him. The problem is that to prize him away from Juventus it will probably take a sizeable offer. I have estimated his price at £30m and if United could get him for that, it would be a bargain. In truth they may have to part with nearer £40-£45m to acquire his services. His contract at Juventus runs until 30/06/2017 and is on around £85-90k a week. If he were to move to United he would probably ask for anywhere between £130-£150k a week. The second midfielder, in my opinion is between two; Ilkay Gundogan and Everton Ribeiro. Ilkay offers more of a safe option. Playing for Borussia Dortmund he has experience of playing at the highest level including the Champions League final. In terms of goal scoring he is not prolific, having scored only 6 goals in 2 1/2 seasons for Dortmund but he is very good at linking the play and at 23 years old is an attractive investment. His contract is set to run out in the summer and has said he is yet to make a decision on his future. £20-£25m will be enough to prize him away at the risk of him leaving for free in the summer. Borussia Dortmund will more than likely put a new contract on the table for him. Real Madrid are rumoured to be interested but a starting place is not guaranteed at Madrid so this might be a factor that swings his decision United's way. Everton Ribeiro currently plays for Cruzeiro in Brazil and is definitely more of a wild card pick. His agent confirmed this week that they had a 10 million euro bid from an unnamed English club but that the bid had been rejected. With 8 goals and 11 assists so far this season, he has had a good campaign so far in Brazil. The Premier League is very different though and as we so often see with foreign players, there is a noticeable culture shock. In my opinion he is worth a risk though. Oscar is one example of a Brazilian who has adapted well to the English game and become a key player for Chelsea. I have put a £15m price tag on him and if this was offered I think Cruzeiro would probably accept. Value for money is hard to find but Everton Ribeiro offers this. It is unknown whether the English club that tabled a bid for him is United but Ribeiro has stated he would love to play for United. Here's a thought. Sell Cleverley and buy all 3. Suddenly you have midfield options of Carrick, Fletcher, Ribeiro, Gundogan and Vidal. Very nice. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Related articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-criss-cross-europe-watching-3026115#.UtrBprTFLIU
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2538877/Moyes-meets-Juve-chief-United-plans-sensational-double-raid-Pogba-Vidal.html
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/arturo-vidal/profil/spieler_37666.html
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-transfers-ilkay-gundogan-3028204#.UtrY7LTFLIU
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11667/9117711/transfer-news-cruzeiro-reject-bid-for-manchester-united-target-everton-ribeiro
No comments:
Post a Comment