Nice but long read
On the day that Ryan Giggs decided to retire from international
football, Manchester United announced that they will sign two of
the world's best young players. The irony won't be lost on those in
the red half of Manchester as the rest of the Premiership have been
left stunned while United blaze ahead in this summer's transfer
market.
Tottenham may have beaten the Red Devils to the signing of young
Welsh full-back Gareth Bale, but it is a combined fee of around
£30million for the duo from Portugal that has tongues wagging
before the first day of June has even arrived.
It is not known whether Bale, a snip at £5million (although rising
to £10million with a series of contract add-ons), was ever a real
target for Sir Alex Ferguson, or just the subject of idle tabloid
tattle. But Fergie's double transfer coup from the Portuguese
league certainly suggests that if he had been, we certainly
wouldn't have known about it.
Like Tevez and Mascherano's arrival at West Ham back in August,
United's interest in the pair has been kept quiet.
Anderson is a player who has been coveted by the world's best
teams. At 19 years old, the Brazilian is widely regarded to be one
of the players of the future. He impressed while on international
duty with Brazil in the 2005 U-17 World Cup and is already called
'the next Ronaldinho' in Portugal.
Scouted by Barcelona and praised by Arsene Wenger after Arsenal met
FC Porto in the Champions League in September, the midfield starlet
has certainly been raising eyebrows. Although nobody would have
thought they would have been those at Old Trafford.
Not that Ferguson doesn't have an eye for a good player, far from
it, but having spent £18million on Michael Carrick and a further
£17million on the impending arrival of Owen Hargreaves, central
midfield was not a position he needed to fill.
Still, United have shown a propensity for splashing out cash in
order to secure the world's leading young players. Wayne Rooney
cost nearly £30million, Rio Ferdinand a similar amount and
Cristiano Ronaldo can be labelled a bargain at a measly
£12million.
In Portuguese youngster Nani, United have the next addition to this
list, at a reported £17million. The winger is virtually a carbon
copy of Ronaldo and came from the same club, Sporting Lisbon.
But unlike Ronaldo, Nani had been attracting the gaze of
Premiership clubs, notably Tottenham and it was widely expected
that he would move to White Hart Lane. Spurs were reportedly quoted
a £12million price tag, but reports also emerged that his buy-out
clause was in the region of £17.5million.
The player himself showed a desire to join the club back at the
start of May, telling the Daily Mirror: 'I would only leave
Portugal for a club like United.' But as with all tabloid talk over
the summer, it was hard to know what to believe.
Confirmation, of course, came with the news that United's assistant
Carlos Queiroz and Red Devils chief executive David Gill, were in
Lisbon to agree a deal. Even then, as the news broke, first it was
Anderson who was announced, with Nani added later on. As if the duo
had gone to Portugal with a shopping list and found the prospect of
buying the winger too good to refuse.
Which of these starlets was the priority remains to be seen, but
Ferguson would never squander money on players without doing his
homework first. Certainly we can take the news that United were
going to buy 'three new players', as read. With Owen Hargreaves on
his way on July 1, that quota has now been filled.
What may come further along in the transfer window, is more
spending, with a striker and a defender top of the list. Fernando
Torres, Dimitar Berbatov and Klaas Jan-Huntelaar have all been
linked to Old Trafford, but with the cost of his summer arrivals
almost topping £50million already, Ferguson will have to be
careful.
A world-class striker would not come cheap, while the manager would
have to let one of his fringe defenders go before signing a new
one. Gabriel Heinze has attracted a lot of interest from Europe,
notably in the form of Real Madrid, and would command a fee of at
least £5million if he were to decide his future lay
elsewhere.
In fact, United already have a well-stocked defence with Wes Brown
and Mikael Silvestre seemingly happy to play second fiddle to Rio
Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic while Northern Irish youngster Jonny
Evans is pushing for a first-team place after impressing on loan at
Sunderland. Spaniard Gerard Pique has spent the season on loan at
Real Zaragoza and is said, by some sources, to have been promised a
role at Old Trafford next season.
But players are likely to go, especially in midfield. Darren
Fletcher and Kieran Richardson look prime candidates, although not,
as some would expect, Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes. The two new
signings would replace them nicely in terms of positioning, but
neither of Ferguson's stalwarts are ready to give up the ghost just
yet.
In contrast, if anything can be gleaned from their respective
decisions to retire from international football, it is that they
are hungry for domestic success, particularly in the Champions
League. Nominations for the PFA Player of the Year suggest that
their skills on the pitch have not deteriorated with age and both
were instrumental in the club's title win.
United may have spent a lot of money on two young starlets to
improve their squad for next season, with possibly more to come,
but the experience that the likes of Giggs and Scholes can pass on
in training is something that money can't buy.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=435296&root=england&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1&cc=4716
