Red Rants |
| United to invest £100m on World Cup star? Posted: 17 Aug 2014 11:41 PM PDT
United have been linked with over a dozen footballers this summer and, alongside Arturo Vidal, Angel Di Maria’s name has been a recurrent theme this summer.
According to the Daily Mail, United are ready to table a £50m offer to Real Madrid, with a five-year deal worth £200,000-a-week on the cards for the Argentine, meaning the total investment could reach the staggering sum of £100m. The Mail, as per usual, doesn’t cite any source nor does it reports any quote that might add an ounce of credibility to the story, though the figures might not be too far from the truth. Di Maria was a key player in Argentina’s run to the World Cup final and he was arguably one of Real’s players of the season last year, scoring 11 goals and assisting a further 26 in 51 games in all competitions. The Argentine could find himself forced to leave the Santiago Bernabeu due to a lack of first team opportunities and looked set to move to PSG, only for the Parisian club to pull out of the race, as spending £50m for the Argentine would disrupt their attempt to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play. Van Gaal has made he clear he wants the club to sign defenders but last week he also openly stated that United like a world class winger and specifically mentioned Di Maria, claiming he considers him as one of the best wingers in the world. The problem, of course, is always the same. United can’t offer Champions League football this season and might not even be able to guarantee that next season, while, given their track record, there absolute no indications that the Glazers would be happy to fork out £50m even if Woodward was to convince Real Madrid to sell, which would be a minor miracle in itself. According to the Mail, “Di Maria is aware of United's capacity to pay big wages and has told his family of his surprise that the English club's offer outstrips anything made by other suitors”. Don’t get your hopes up just yet.
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| Posted: 17 Aug 2014 10:51 AM PDT
It predominantly stems from raised hopes and anticipation, caused by pre-season flair and panache, coupled with an unbeaten record against high class opposition. But the more level headed sections of the United faithful perhaps didn’t quite carry the same level of expectation.
This was the same United squad, bar two new signings, one of which is injured already, that flopped so incessantly last term. The thing is, Louis van Gaal knew it beforehand. He knew that the squad wasn’t good enough. “It’s a process”. The process, however, must begin to be set into motion, and quickly. We now have the right manager to steer the ship but we don’t have the right squad and we certainly don’t have the right people in the positions of power upstairs. My despair at the level of performances being put on show by the Red Devils post Sir Alex has now turned into full on anger. I am absolutely livid with how this club is being run. We’ve replaced Sir Alex, but we must now find a replacement for David Gill. Otherwise we’re headed for total collapse. Where does the buck stop? If the Glazers are providing the money, are we to assume that it’s incompetence of the highest level from Ed Woodward that has led to another potentially disastrous summer? Or is the money actually being provided? We operate in a way that is entirely different to any other club in the world. Take Real Madrid for example. They asked Monaco how much it would take to sign James Rodriguez. Monaco replied and Madrid gave them the money. Chelsea. How much will it take to sign Costa and Fabregas? They got the reply, they paid the money. Instead we have Woodward giving out rhetoric of how we are prepared to break the transfer record, yet we continue to penny pinch and miss out on targets. We can’t complain about being held to ransom for players when you’ve got the hierarchy saying we’ll pay whatever we need to in the media. The club is so obviously lacking in talent and yet it would appear that the men at the top are happy to see it continue to crumble. Where does it stop? We are hearing yet more speculation of new signings on the verge of arriving at the beginning of the week, but in all honesty, who on earth can hold any real belief that that will actually happen? Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind have said everything short of ‘buy me’ in recent weeks and still we can’t get the deals done. Jim White reported on his twitter feed of the impending arrival of Mehdi Benatia from Roma, but with Bayern Munich now showing interest, it’s like a train crash in slow motion, you know how it’s going to end. So what happens if we can’t sign anyone from overseas? Do we have another deadline day of mediocre signings and embarrassing failed attempts to look forward to? Ed Woodward, your time is now sir. Failure must result in a new job hunt. Greg |
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