The best time to buy is from a position of strength. It serves
various purposes, suggesting to winners that standards will have to
be met, or raised, and acting as a form of intimidation to
ambitious rivals. It is a statement of intent that Sir Alex
Ferguson has made several times before.
Having won his first Premier League title, he broke the British
transfer record to recruit Roy Keane. After his seventh, he did so
again when buying Juan Sebastian Veron, as well as adding Ruud van
Nistelrooy to the ranks. When the league was reclaimed in 2007,
Carlos Tevez was signed, and when the Champions League was regained
12 months later, Dimitar Berbatov arrived.
By the same rationale, the ideal occasion to part company with
players is when on top. That, too, delivers a message, by
dispensing with the deadwood and looking to bring in quality. So
while it might seem an odd assertion to make about the probable
champions and possible Double winners, here it is: Manchester
United need a clearout. This should be the final campaign at Old
Trafford for a sizeable portion of the squad.
There are several factors. Theirs has been a strange season of
mediocrity and magnificence, where ageing players and age-old
habits of indomitable spirit, improbable comebacks and invaluable
late goals can serve to mask failings. A 19th title would be a
remarkable achievement but a final points total in the low 80s
would show the scope for improvement.
United are a club who have benefited from continuity, but it can
be taken too far. The high-profile departures of Cristiano Ronaldo
and Tevez have camouflaged the reality that, in the last
two-and-a-half years, only one other regular in the squad, Ben
Foster, has been moved on. The assumption of permanence seems to
have led others into a comfort zone. Though he was bizarrely
awarded a new contract recently, Michael Carrick is an obvious
example: he no longer passes the ball forwards with invention,
incision or penetration.
Wes Brown and Jonny Evans are others to have relapsed and,
though there should still be time for Evans to rediscover his form,
the former is 31, lacking confidence and conviction and enduring a
third successive undistinguished season.
All three are on the wrong side of the unofficial divide in
Ferguson's squad. It is sizeable, but uneven: the 30-or-so players
can be split into a first 15 who have made considerable
contributions and a second group who impress too infrequently.
Often as Carrick is involved, he belongs in the latter
category.
While some have deteriorated, others have never excelled to
begin with. Bebe and Gabriel Obertan are cases in point, their
efforts in the Carling Cup defeat at West Ham and the FA Cup win
over Crawley sufficient to show they are not United players. Nor is
an oft-forgotten man, Mame Biram Diouf, who has been loaned to
Blackburn but is increasingly unable to get into their team. With
Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley due back at Old Trafford next
season after loan spells elsewhere, Ferguson will have superior
options on the flanks without spending a penny.
Others will leave of their own volition. Gary Neville spared his
manager a difficult decision by retiring, albeit eight months after
he should have done. Edwin van der Sar is resistant to entreaties
to play on for another year and, sadly for admirers of his talent,
Paul Scholes has been reluctant to sign a new contract as well.
Should he exit, the need for a midfield makeover would be
obvious. As it is and for very different reasons, United supporters
could be forgiven for echoing Giovanni Trapattoni's suggestion that
Darron Gibson looks for first-team football elsewhere. The Irishman
has not progressed beyond enthusiastic shooting, meaning he lacks
the all-round game to play as one of two central midfielders.
In contrast, Owen Hargreaves possesses every attribute but
fitness. There have been rumours of a pay-as-you-play deal when his
four-year contract expires in the summer, although, as it stands,
it would be the least lucrative agreement in footballing history.
It means that, should Scholes retreat into retirement and
semi-hibernation in Saddleworth, only two of United's six
specialist central midfielders - Darren Fletcher and Anderson -
deserve to be at the club next season.
Nor are there grounds to retain United's other Owen - Michael -
who has been rendered redundant by Javier Hernandez, currently
providing the razor-sharp finishing and impact from the bench that
the Englishman was supposed to. Owen is an old 31 and evidence of
his decline was apparent long before United signed him, while
Sampdoria loanee Federico Macheda is another due to return to
Manchester next season. Following the January signing of Anders
Lindegaard, meanwhile, goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak is another set to
lose his place in the pecking order.
Collectively, there are reasons for a dozen departures. If that
is unlikely, the only basis to keep some is if Ferguson lacks the
funds to replace them or if buyers do not materialise, although the
stubbornness that seems an essential part of any great manager's
make-up may prevent him from discarding some of his more
ill-advised buys. In much he does, Ferguson is a contradiction. He
is a man who can veer from loyalty to brutality rapidly but, rather
than celebrating a momentous season, he should show his ungrateful
side. There is a case to trim his herd.
