Silva is an interesting prospect but i would be surprised if Rafa goes for him. I think Rafa much rather go for the defender Albiol or whatever his name is. Silva is a decent player with flair and trickery, but i dont think he will suit to play in our football which i fear is far too demanding for him. Also, he's apparently abit of a mommy's boy, his mom still send him to training etc. Its said the be the reason why he refused the chance to play for the mancs earlier this season.

Offensive wise, i think Rafa will go for a Simao type of player. I reckon Maxi Rodigurez, the Argentinean whos playing for A. Madrid would make a terrific signing. He's physical like Torres, a no-nonsense disciplined player, and can play in variety of positions; either flank or up top. Saw him deployed behind Aguero sometime this year in the similar Gerrard's role. A typical Rafe-esque kind of player. He's like Kuyt but with pace and superior ball control.

I dont think we need to get another striker, getting someone like Henry is a luxury and i fear will only do us more harm than good. And come to think of it, we never had much luck anyways with an extra back up striker. Voronin was meh, and Keane needs no mentioning. Babel, if he ends up staying, should be able to cope and provide the cover upfront. Then there's Kuyt, despite what people say about him, he's imo, an actually a good center forward. He may not be as profilic as Torres, but he can hold the ball upfront as good as even Drogba. Then we have Ngog, Nameth and Pacheco/LDV as junior strikers. They might be junior, but i reckon they have the talent and mentality to succeed. These lot are not the average Mellor kind of players, they are pretty damn good talented individuals and i have sneaky feeling that Rafa will be wanting to integrate them next season.

that came from Keane's deal...so, we have more than 30m to spend with keane's deal started with 12m followed with clauses about 4m..16m+ from Keane's deal according to the news I read.

---

Added on March 21, 2009, 4:41 pmGiven his status as captain of Ath Madrid, he wont come cheap(probably around Silva price) and with his age approaching 30(he will be 29 next season), it will be a waste of money to spend a big sum of money on him.Plus, not much Argentinian can establish themselves well in BPL. Tevez and Mascherano took some time and if you remember one big flop the manc bought , someone call Veron....

Anyway, I m one big fan of him(maxi).

This post has been edited by solstice818: Mar 21 2009, 04:45 PM

Juan Sebastian Veron....i remember him....can't establish himself at ManU...

yeah, i think i read something like that, thanks for clarifying.


agree with the backup striker issue.

in all RB has been with liverpool for half a decade, and most if not all the youngsters are drafted in by the spaniard. in five years' time i'm sure some may be good enough to graduate and make the grade into the first team. most fans are eager to watch the likes of nemeth and pacheco to feature sometime next season, if not end of the this season.

we've seen how insua slowly making it into the team seamlessly, despite having relatively poor displays in the past couple of seasons when given opportunity to perform. he's perhaps better than both the senior leftbacks in the club now, if not better. then we have some who has given themselves a good shout for more appearances such as el zhar, darby and spearing. ngog wasn't bought to play in reserves, i'm sure he'll be featuring more regularly considering keane's no longer taking up a spot in the first 11. lucas and babel aren't very old either, although they came with tags of first team squad players on their forehead. then we have nemeth, all hypes but yet to make his first team bow.

if anything i'm glad to see RB pen his contract this week. this gives quite a few players the assurance to commit long term, and at the same time we'll get to see some young prospects staking a claim in the squad and possibly, in the first team in the coming seasons. this will do good especially in the champions league with the homegrown players ruling.

Ferguson: Benitez has spent more

Sir Alex Ferguson has re-opened hostilities with Rafael Benitez by disputing the Liverpool manager's claim that he has spent more on transfers.



Benitez suggested last week that Ferguson had spent £100million more he had, but the Manchester United boss retaliated by ordering his staff to tot up each manager's spending since the Liverpool boss took over at Anfield five years ago.

By United's calculations, Benitez has spent £24million more and Ferguson is expecting him to splash the cash again this summer.

Ferguson said: "I was amazed at that one. I got some of the people in the sports technology department to check that out.

"He's well ahead of us in spending in the last five years.

"He said our spending power is more than theirs but he has spent £24million more than we have.

"I think you will see Rafa producing an absolute spending spree, I think that's an absolute certainty now he has signed a new contract.

"There's talk about a recession but I don't think there will be one at Liverpool this year."

In terms of net spending - taking into account income from sales - the clubs are much the same. Liverpool's net spending over five years on players is £82.5million and United's has been £85.5million. Meanwhile, Chelsea spent £154.8million net on players during that time and Arsenal just £3.4million.

Ferguson claimed his philosophy included developing young players as well as signing stars, while Benitez was more focused on bringing in established players.

He added: "There's a balance - we have signed 18 players in the last five years and eight of those have been young players. There's a balance, it's about doing the thing correctly.

"We like to try to develop young players and we will always do that. That's the nature of the club.

"Other clubs are maybe different and obviously Rafa has a different philosophy of the game from mine.

"But that's the great thing about football - everyone has a different way of doing things.

"The most amazing fact was that they have used 60 players in reserves matches and have 50 players in their reserves squad."

Ferguson believes United's owners will continue to support any requests for transfer funds that he makes, and that the club must always remained focus on dealing with challenges.

"It's always been that if I wanted a player the club would try to find the money and I think that's still the case. They have always delivered in the past," said Ferguson.

"Whatever the challenge, whether it comes from Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal, you have to address it.

"It's the same as Chelsea [with Roman Abramovich]. At the time we were saying what's going to happen here, and they were terrific and they got a really good squad of experienced players they could rely on.

"We had to address that and work to get back as the number one."




The bold part seems ridiculous..

FULHAM! im backing them up tonite! hold them tight in the @$$!!
atleast a draw =P!

SAF going senile again.



that pretty much says it all - the net spend.
if like that, u buy player A for 5mil, sell off player A for 6mil, then buy player B for 10mil...means what? player B costs you 15mil? more like 9mil.
this also shows that Chelsea are either not off-loading alot of players, or are very bad at the trading market...while Arsenal are doing very well at trading players.

Here's something I'm doing on my blog for next month's anniversary.



I'm not sure if i should call him KeroKop or simply 96.

1) Went to BB today, could not find any stickers that fit - the sticker has to fit into a 5 sen coin to be usable. Any other suggestions? The 96 decals i already have.
2) I also need a football, again the size of a 5 sen coin. Any suggestions here too?

TQ.

hmmm one thing SAF never point out is . WE SELL to BUY .

real world arent FM, Buy to sell in d future. lol

---

Added on March 21, 2009, 9:30 pmhw bout barry? will he repursued by RB? for a 29yo... 16m surely arent worth it. ( unless he is giggsy of coz^^ )

This post has been edited by Vagine: Mar 21 2009, 09:30 PM

no more 18m or whatever price MON put on him.Barry's contract expire soon

If barry is in, alonso could be out. the midfield area is indeed tight

18mil lol for a player which almost run out of contract? lol... rafa already get his 5years, no nid to buy player at the wrong side of 30 now. i say bid 30mil for silva

Eh, Crouch scored 2 goals to sink Everton...

LALALALA....
Ex-Liv player score for FULHAM! 1-0 manu

GOOD JOB FULHAM!!

Scholes got red carded for deliberate hand ball

guess wat...DANNY MURPHY slot in the penalty!

Fulham 1-0 ManU (10-men down)

Murphy our old boy did the job...Future looks brighter now...

Did u SmelllLALALalalal What Manu is cooking?!
they r cooking claypot!

Scholes - i was trying to protect my face

thanks danny, u did like wat u promised too, i rmb readin an article of danny murphy promise to kill man utd 4 liverpool pals after watching former teammates destroying them at old trafford......