Apparently Manchester United are going to buy almost every player who is rumoured to be for sale. In an attempt to separate the “possibly true” from the “absolutely not” we look at deals which could happen.
Dastardly Daniel Levy decided, a while ago, that Toby Alderweireld was surplus to requirements at Tottenham Hotspur because he had the audacity to think he should be paid more than the minimum wage.
This alerted Manchester United manager José Mourinho and had Ed Woodward reaching for the nail-biting repellant at the very thought of having to negotiate with London football’s answer to Shylock.
In today’s market, Alderweireld is “worth” around the £50 million United are prepared to pay. He is not worth the £70 million Daniel Levy thinks they should pay. This valuation is based on the fee Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk but, as usual, Levy conveniently forgets a couple of salient factors.
To start with, the Belgian is three years older than the Dutchman, so his sell-by date will come around sooner.
United are also in a strong position to negotiate as Alderweireld’s release clause can be triggered in a year’s time. That being the case, then Spurs would only receive £30 million for him. Liverpool were never in a position to negotiate the van Dijk fee after messing up in their original attempts to sign him when they were accused of an illegal approach to the player.
Ed may be wise to remind his Tottenham counterpart of these minor details and, if Levy insists on being his usual stubborn self, then forget it for a year.
Another possible arrival at Old Trafford is Willian. Having fallen out with Antonio Conte he appears to be quite taken with the idea of a reunion with José Mourinho. He may also wait and see who takes over at Stamford Bridge as he doesn’t really want to leave Chelsea.
That, for us, is the problem. We would much rather a player joined United because he wanted to and not because he was looking for an escape route from his current club.
With Willian, however, we would probably be happy to make an exception because he does seem the type of player who can perform on the pitch regardless of what is happening off it.
Another potential signing for United is Fred, from Shakhtar Donetsk, although he is unlikely to be joined by Barney, we are reliably informed!
Other potential signings include Alex Sandro from Juventus and Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk. If these four players could be procured then United would have to be considered genuine contenders for the title next season.
And finally…..
So gawpy Gareth doesn’t understand why any Englishman or woman would want Real Madrid to beat Liverpool in the Champion’s League final!
It is, therefore, as we suspected. He is not the right man to be leading England into a World Cup as, with those comments alone, he has shown that he knows very little about football.
He can only be excused, in part anyway, because of where he was born. As a namby-pamby southerner from Watford he obviously wouldn’t have a clue about football in the north-west.
This is where the game was invented. It is where the first league was formed and rivalries between cities in the north-west run a lot deeper than just football.
Manchester and Liverpool, for example, may have a healthy respect for each other but that doesn’t mean that they have to support, or even like, each other when it comes to competitive sport.
Cristiano Ronaldo, an ex-Manchester United hero, now plays for Real Madrid but still loves United. Liverpool have no ex-United players and unless they arrive there by a very circuitous route, they never will.
Consequently, when added together, the two factors of disliking Liverpool and cheering on an ex-player mean that most, if not all, Manchester United fans will be cheering for Real Madrid on Saturday.
These two are in the unenviable position of having about half of their adopted countries population wanting them to lose!
The other question is; what’s English about Liverpool? They play in an English city and have two or three English players, so what? Their manager is German, their three top goalscorers are Egyptian, Brazilian and Senegalese. Their record signing and best defender is Dutch but we should support them in the Champion’s League final because they are “English”?
Somehow we don’t think so!
Oh, and by the way, around 50% of Spaniards will be supporting Liverpool in another show of loyalty you will find difficult to grasp.
There now Gareth, is that too difficult to understand? If you don’t get it now, you never will!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 