Quote of the Day

“It was easy, though, to see why United are being prominently linked with Jack Rodwell, who played with a maturity beyond his 18 years. The teenager is two-footed, tall, plays with his head up and always wants the ball. He looks like a United player in the making.”

Daniel Taylor, Guardian.

Today the Floodgates Opened

With 47 days to go until the opening of the January transfer window speculation about possible deals has slowly been rising in recent weeks, but today I felt the floodgates of rumours were finally fully opened. If every tabloid and their dogs (below) are to be believed, we will sign the following players in January: Carlton Cole, Jack Rodwell, Philipp Lahm, Edin Dzeko, Connor Wickham, Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Chamakh, Franck Ribery, Yaya Toure, Simon Kjaer and probably a few others as well. Or if we don’t actually sign them we will at the very least “closely monitor the situation”.

Transfer rumours normally stem from two main sources. Either an agent who wants to create the impression that his client is very much in demand, or a journalist who puts two and two together at his desk. Neither is a very firm foundation for credibility. It remains for each reader to decide whether it makes sense for United to target a certain player. In today’s avalanche of rumours I’ve picked up two that I feel are both reasonably credible and highly desirable:

Three c(l)ubs in tug-of-war over Jack Rodwell.

Jack Rodwell (Everton) is the most promising teenager in the PL. He is versatile and equally comfortable in central defence or as a holding midfielder. At 18 he was very impressive in the European Under-21 finals and I don’t think it will be very long before he plays for England. David Moyes will be desperate to keep hold of him, but Everton could find it hard to resist the financial might of United and Chelsea. These three clubs are likely fight it out, but probably not until the summer.

Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich) is one of the best full-backs in the world. He could play either side, but United would want him mainly as a right-back.  This rumour is probably of the put-two-and-two-together variety since United have reportedly been interested in the past and Lahm’s position is now uncertain following his recent criticism of Bayern’s transfer policy and lack of strategic planning.

Rodwell would be a long-term investment, but the arrival of Lahm would immediately strengthen the first XI. Neville is past his best, probably Brown too, O’Shea is adequate cover while Rafael might become o world-class player, but that’s still a few years down the line.

My guess is that we will not see an awful lot of activity from Ferguson in January. But it might be a good idea to move quickly for Lahm while he’s unhappy about Bayern’s suits. And then we will hopefully pull out all stops to get Rodwell in the summer.

Time to move for the next Peter Schmeichel

Our present goalkeeper strategy seems very sensible. With Edwin van der Sar in his, probably, last season, Ben Foster will be given plenty of opportunities to prove himself. Presumably even at times when Van der Sar is fit. Sir Alex firmly believes that Foster will be England’s first-choice keeper in South Africa next summer, and beyond that the permanent successor to Van der Sar.

I’m not completely convinced by this strategy. Firstly, Foster’s injury problems have been far too frequent to install confidence in him as a reliable long-term solution. Secondly, I’ve been occasionally impressed but also  from time to time worried by his performances, e.g in the Community Shield a couple of weeks ago.

Even so there is no need to try to sign a new keeper unless you could identify one with genuine potential to be a long-term solution of the calibre of Casillas or Schmeichel.  I belive that such a solution was, perhaps still is, available this summer. I’m referring to 23-year-old Manuel Neuer at Schalke 04. I admit that I haven’t watched him regularly in the Bundesliga, but a number of hugely impressive performances in the European Under-21 Championship this summer convinced me that he should be our next keeper.

The end of the transfer window is fast approaching and a deal this week is unlikely. I fear that the competition for his signature will be very fierce next summer.

The Valencia enigma

Regular readers of Between the Lines will be well aware that I’m a great fan of Antonio Valencia. I certainly hope that he will be one of our summer signings.

There are, however, some puzzling aspects to this proposed deal, partly brought to my attention by some interesting comments by James Ryddel at A Kick in the Grass. If Valencia is such an excellent player (as I think he is), why aren’t more clubs queing up to sign him? The Wigan chairman is doing his best to give the impression that United is not the only club chasing their star player, but it appears that the only other club involved is Real Madrid. The logical explanation for this lack of interest is that many clubs feel that Valencia is a good player, but overpriced.

Secondly: Does it really make sense for Real to be interested at all? In the last few weeks they’ve embarked on an, even by their standards, extreme galacticos strategy. Ronaldo and Kaka are in the bag and Ribery and Benzema possibly on their way. Does Valencia fit into that kind of strategy?

So, maybe United don’t face much competition when it comes to signing Valencia. If that’s the case it should be possible to push the fee down a bit. Even so, my advice to Sir Alex remains; sign Valencia ffs!

The unofficial transfer window shopping list

 United are about to receive £80m for Ronaldo and are therefore linked with just about every top class player in Europe and their dogs. Some of the suggested signings are very tempting but totally unrealistic (e.g. Essien and Torres) while in other cases the fees quoted are very fanciful (Ribery).

The Between The Lines shopping list stays away from the most expensive options and contains just three names:

Micah Richards. Probably the most talented young defender/midfielder in England. Hasn’t played to his potential during the last two seasons but it would be very interesting to see him develop under Ferguson. Could play in central defence or at right-back, but I see him as a future holding midfielder, “the next Patrick Vieira”. Tops my shopping list if indeed City, as rumoured, are stupid enough to sell him.

Robin van Persie. Reports claim that he’s unhappy with the level of ambition at Arsenal. Very skilful and mobile and would work wonderfully with Rooney or Berbatov or both. A bit injury-prone but worth a gamble.

Antonio Valenicia. Impressed me a lot as man-of-the-match against United in January. A fast and direct winger/midfielder who eschewes fancy footwork but can make it look very easy to get past a full-back. Some think he’s overpriced at £18m. I don’t agree.

I’m pleased to see Ronaldo leave

We have lost one of the best players in the world but, strangely enough, I’m looking forward to next season more this morning than I did 24 hours ago, before the news about the Ronaldo deal broke. I had grown increasingly fed up with his whinging and diving on the field and constant scheming to engineer a move off it.

On the other hand. In the last three seasons Ronaldo scored 23, 42 and 26 goals respectively. Of course he will be missed.

With Carlos Tevez also quite possibly leaving there is a need for rebuilding, facilitated by the £80m received from Real. Antonio Valencia is an excellent first name on the shopping list, but I also hope that youngsters like Macheda and Welbeck will play important parts.

Finally, my sincere thanks to Scott at the Republik of Mancunia who with a single stroke of genius managed to wipe out any lingering doubts that I might have had.

The Tevez-Glazer Connection

It seems likely that Carlos Tevez will leave United at the end of the season. I believe that this to a large extent is a sign that the Glazer family is tightening the purse strings.

There are a number of good reasons why Tevez should stay. He’s a class player who has greatly contributed to our success in his two seasons at United. He’s also worshipped by the fans for his attitude on the pitch. And the fee under consideration is believed to be “just” £22m.

But the combination of a huge and rising debt and a global recession probably makes it very tempting for the board to increase profits by limiting spending on transfers. This explains why David Gill is apparently haggling with Kia Joorabchian over the fee, even though it was agreed on in the deal made in 2007.

On the other hand one wonders whether any real negotiations are taking place. It doesn’t make much sense for Joorabchian to consider lowering the price to United if he believes he could sell Tevez for £22m or more to another club. Which he probably does and could. Indeed, if Real, Liverpool and City are lining up to sign Tevez it would be in Joorabchians interest NOT to close a deal with United. This is also exactly the reason why Joorabchian might want to spread rumours about lots of other clubs being interested, or encourage Tevez to tell the media that he’s “unhappy” at the way he’s treated. Sometimes it’s difficult to try to read between the lines.

Bargain of the decade

A number of stories during this transfer window have indicated that City are willing to offload Micah Richards, maybe for no more than £5m. An example is today’s claim by the Mirror that Mark Hughes has offered Richards in exchange for Kolo Toure. If there’s any truth at all in these rumours Sir Alex should act quickly. This could be the bargain of the decade! Richards hasn’t looked impressive this season, but he has tremendous potential. I think Ferguson could mould him into the next Patrick Vieira.

Ferguson checks out Scottish prodigy

Sir Alex has sent his brother Martin to cast an expert eye on 17-year-old Rangers forward John Fleck (source: The Sun….).  Fleck is the nephew of former Rangers, Chelsea and Norwich striker Robert, and his direct running, powerful style and extreme confidence has made many people compare him to Wayne Rooney.

Fleck was 7th on The Times’ recent list of the hottest young football talents in the world. I’m not completely convinced that this is a good sign since the same list ranked non-existing Moldavian superstar Masal Bugduv as No 30.

Meanwhile, our mystery signing Ritchie de Laet has made his debut for the reserves against Accrington Stanley and also featured against Blackburn.

I’m absolutely delaeted

Only a few days ago, after the official announcement of the signings of Tosic and Ljajic, Sir Alex Ferguson said there would be no more signings in January. Then today United suddenly signs 20-year old Belgian defender Ritchie de Laet from Stoke City.

The transfer is all the more puzzling since his record is anything but impressive. In over a year at Stoke he hasn’t once played for the first team. He was loaned to Bournemouth where his greatest achievement apparently was that he took part in a 4-1 friendly defeat against Portsmouth. And he has made three appearances on loan at non-league Wrexham.

The most logical explanation is that while at Royal Antwerp he impressed Warren Joyce who was then manager of Royal Antwerp and is now assistant to reserves coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

I’ve never seen the lad play, or even heard of him. But for the time being I still choose to be delaeted with the signing.

Through sterling work by manunitedyouth you can find a translation of a Belgian interview with de Laet here. Highlight: “I haven’t got a driver’s licence yet, but I won’t be asking him for lessons, that’s for sure.”