Vidic and co. look to wrestle back their trophy this season
As this time of year is traditional to roll out previews and predictions of the upcoming season, we thought we’d ride on the huge wave with our thoughts on the year ahead.
The misery of watching the Premier League trophy slip from our grip was painful. The scars of the capitulation against Everton and the toothless display against Citeh at their place are still raw, and probably won’t heal again until May 2013 when hopefully Vidic will be doing that thing again up there.
As it stands at 12:41 August 8th 2012, the most likely new signing that Manchester United will make is Olympic 100m specialist, Usain Bolt. The Jamaican has once again called on Sir Alex Ferguson to give him a trial at Carrington, and let’s be honest he can’t be much worse than Bébé. Sadly, the world’s fastest man - Bolt, not Bébé - is the only person to announce his intentions to play at Old Trafford next season as our transfer targets are being enticed elsewhere.
The pursuit of new acquisition this summer has brought an uncharacteristic move from the United camp in recent weeks. A more cynical soul would suggest that Sir Alex coming out to confirm Arsenal’s Robin van Persie and Sao Paulo’s Lucas Moura as targets was to drive up interest in the incredibly bold IPO share scheme. I won’t pretend to understand the ins and outs of such a financial clusterfuck, but what I do know is that the timing of this potential transfer coup is perfect to show gullible investors that we can still compete with the big boys for the big players thus making us still attractive. Alas, we can not.
It’s here, SAF! The value in the market you’ve been looking for!
Today, Newcastle United bid for one of the stars of Euro 2012, Lille’s marauding full-back, Mathieu Debuchy. That bid was £4m. As derisory as this offer is for the 26 year old rumours suggest that he’s worth closer to… wait for it… a whopping SIX MILLION! That’s right, a whole £2m more for star player currently operating as one of the finest right-backs in world football. To put that into context, that’s £1.4m LESS than pretend footballer, Bébé cost us.
To you Sir Alex Ferguson, we say this… there’s your god damn value in the market.
Despite his glum look, we’re sure he’s delighted to be at MUFC
So we’ve signed the talented young midfielder, Nick Powell from Crewe Alexandra. The deal was confirmed a couple of days ago by the club, and quickly ends another transfer saga that threatened to rumble on over the summer. Judging by his goalscoring show-reel below, this is great news for Manchester United and could add a real threat from the middle of the park that we’ve been lacking of late. But as has become common place in the modern era of football, I’m a little skeptical about his chances of making it at Old Trafford. Let’s look at his goals first and then I’ll continue my moan…
Welcome to Old Trafford, Shinji Kagawa. Subject to passing a medical and officially putting pen to paper, the Japanese starlet will be plying his trade at Manchester United next season. And not a minute too soon either as he looks set to add some much needed speed and trickery to a midfield that’s become slower than a narcoleptic sloth of late.
As is tradition when learning about a new player in this day and age, we’ve sailed out on the trawler and dropped anchor on YouTube. So here for your viewing pleasure is a video of Kagawa’s best bits. Enjoy.
Shinji Kagawa: The sign of things to come in the transfer market?
Everyone except those with their heads buried in the sand and those in denial can see that Manchester United’s finances are in a parlous state. There’s nothing that can be said here about the Glazers that hasn’t been said before, but their involvement with the club since their complete takeover in 2005 has seen the Reds Devils plunged deep into debt. With enormous bills to pay the transfer and wage funds are being continously strangled more than asphyxiated-wank practitioner.
The Eden Hazard debacle further highlights are dwindling ability to compete at the top table with City, Chelsea, Real and more. There were faint hopes that the #7 shirt, the chance to play for a club steeped in so much glorious history and several bags of Haribo Starmix may sway the big-headed Belgian to Old Trafford, but money talks in football these days and there’s no way United can compete with the reported £78m (fee plus wages over five years) that Abramovich is stuffing into Hazard’s G-string.
If the media are to be believed then we’ve missed out on similar big money signings that include Mesut Ozil, David Villa, David Silva and Karim Benzema. So where does this leave Manchester United? Jamie Jackson of the Guardian appears to have knocked the nail on the head. In summary, the imminent signing of Shinji Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund is a signal of the club’s transfer policy under the Glazers - a reasonable fee for a competent, yet low rent player who may still have a big sell-on value. This is the harsh reality, but it need not be a depressing one.
At 5pm today, May 28th, the biggest cock-tease in professional football, Eden Hazard, will finally announce which club he’ll be playing for in the Premier League next season. The Lille star is already the most talked about transfer of the year, and the bloody window isn’t even open yet. All along he’s been drip-feeding us information about his destination with cryptic interview answers usually akin to The Riddler, so either way we’ll be glad to have some closure.
There’s no doubting his talent, but he’s already coming across as a big-headed twat, and he’ll certainly need to light up the Prem next season after all of his bluster. So here at WTS we’ve asked for a show of hands on who thinks the tricky Belgian will land at Old Trafford this summer. Oh, and let’s say a warm welcome to new contributors, Jon and Dan who will hopefully help to keep the site alive for longer than three months this time…
To celebrate the great man’s 46th birthday just sit back and enjoy all 85 goals he scored for Manchester United. The guy is a genius - the kind of which we may never see at Old Trafford again.
I’m writing this before the final day of the season. Man City are sat on top of the Premier League and barring a miracle, they look set to wrestle the title from our grip - and let’s be honest, we haven’t exactly put up a fight for it recently.
Defeat to a resurgent Wigan Athletic was the start of the rot. Yes, they hit form at the right time, but the relegation zone dwellers should’ve faced a tougher test against United. The surrendering of a two goal lead - twice - to Everton in the 4-4 draw at Old Trafford once again showed a trait of our season as we failed to kill off a team convincingly.
Then we rocked up to the Council Estate and put in one of the most lacklustre displays I’ve had the displeasure of seeing in the Manchester derby. Not a single shot on target in a game we simply needed a result in to all but clinch the title. Even the game against Swansea lacked the usual never-say-die spirit of old.
But despite this dour showing, and a distinct gulf in spending power, we’re still likely to concede the title on goal difference, which (Jeebus, is this what it’s come to?) is no mean feat considering the injuries we’ve had and the black-hole that has mostly occupied our midfield area this season.
