coogar:

he's a young player. . . .from the 3rd division in portugal to the biggest club in the world and back in turkey within 12 months must be tough on him.
then he copped a debilitating injury that will keep his arse firmly seated on the couch for six months. . . . .this is so unfortunate.

bebe is a slave that became king but even for kings. . . . .the challenge might be too steep for him to cope with.

debosky:

Have some courage my man. . . .this is nothing compared to slumming it in Lisbon or fighting for life. King Bebe will rise again!!

Mr_TA:

Seems we're no longer signing Wesley Sneijder. Im happy and sad at the same time.

mbulela:

Manchester United have said they do not expect Wesley Sneijder to join the club from Internazionale before the end of the transfer window. Although the Premier League champions did not want to go on the record, the official stance from Old Trafford is that the deal is not going to happen. The information comes from boardroom level, with the chief executive, David Gill, giving his approval for it to be known that United are not actively trying to sign the Dutchman.


i couldn't be any happier.

mbulela:

Manchester United have said they do not expect Wesley Sneijder to join the club from Internazionale before the end of the transfer window. Although the Premier League champions did not want to go on the record, the official stance from Old Trafford is that the deal is not going to happen. The information comes from boardroom level, with the chief executive, David Gill, giving his approval for it to be known that United are not actively trying to sign the Dutchman.


i couldn't be any happier.

Premier League - West Brom offer Hargreaves contract
Fri, 12 Aug 10:09:00 2011

Hargreaves, released by Manchester United, is eager to play again at the highest club level and went as far as to demonstrate his fitness by releasing videos of himself in training at the start of the summer.

He has held talks with West Brom, and has convinced the club he is fit and able to play again to the extent where they have made him an offer.

But Baggies manager Hodgson does not know whether joining his squad appeals to the former England player, who may have other options to consider.

Hodgson said: "When I left at 6pm on Tuesday, Owen was just about to leave at the same time. And we made it clear: 'Look, we've done the test, we agree with you, and your man Alex, that the knee's okay and you can play football. And of course if you'd like to come and play for us that would be lovely.'

"But whether or not our offer is going to be interesting to him, that's what I don't know. He was looked at by our doctor, Mark Gillett, who was at Chelsea, who's quite an eminent person in his field

chamotex:

The season should just start abeg. All these transfer saga is getting boring and annoying now.
Can't wait for tomorrow.
Let the games begin

montelik:

To be honest for 38 million pounds and a reported 220k a week, I am a little skeptical about d value of signing sneijder. But d honest truth is that we need at least one midfield signing. If we go into d season with only Ando, Carrick & Fletch/Giggs as d main guys, we are taking a big gamble considering their performances and fitness from last season.

montelik:

@ coogar.
Have you forgotten how d Glazers have leverage d club with debts upon debts. D gargantuan interest payments consume most of d increased revenues being generated, not to mention d prospect of uefa new financial rules. United can't just shell out dough any how without thinking long-term, especially with FFP coming into effect soon.

D Glazer's aren't like d sheiks at City who will find back channels to pump in investments, neither is British governement going to provide "assistance", like d Spanish sides (Madrid) often get. 38 million pounds transfer fee and a contract worth at least 10 million pound a year, not to factor bonuses, signing on fees, agent fees, and d knock-on effect in future contract negotiations.

Nani will probably be looking to double his reported 70k a week amongst others.

Also Sneijder if signed will most likely have no sell on value. What ever is paid for a transfer and over duration of his contract is most likely a sunk cost. With d debt situation all these things have be considered before signing someone like Sneijder. Lets not forget d club just wrote of d financial waste that was Hargreaves.

coogar:


what has rooney done for man utd to be commanding £250k a week? if we agree rooney is worth that in wages, how much should sneijder be worth per week?

i cannot think of a better midfielder that has done it at the highest level. . . . .putting his team on his shoulders and performing wonders with an average team. you really need to watch 2010 world cup game again or the champions league battle against barcelona. . . .it was sneijder all the way punishing teams like chelsea, bayern, etc to win the treble.

no sell-on value? except we didn't consider that when we bought berbatov in 2009 at the same age for £30 million. rio(£30m) as at 2002

StarBoard:

@montelik,
Relax.
This debt thing,if real,shoukda grounded and crippled us by now.
Coogar mentions United's worth.that should say it all. . .
If United are serious about closing the gap on Barcelona,Sneijder might be the way to go. . .
He is one of the best right now out there.

mbulela:

their is a fundamental problem with your argument.There is a school of thought that believes that Rooney mugged the club for that raise (btw,i doubt it is up to 250k) and a perception that Gill and even fergie belong to that school of thought.

secondly,Gill said it then and repeated it again recently that Berba was the last of such players (over 26) that will be signed for such huge fee.

thirdly,maybe SAF does not rate him that highly to be worth that salary including transfer fee.With our current set up,i am one of those who is not convinced that is not worth moving heaven and earth for as it does not address our current problem within the confines of our best tactical set up.

coogar:

ohhh, please spare me the sermon.
the glazers have paid the pik loans and the total debt as it stands today is less than £500m. . . . .with a club worth around £1.5billion, united are very healthy. if you take the wage/turnover ratio into account, united and arsenal are the healthiest in the league so uefa's financial rules are just loud barks and no bites. the big clubs won't respect it even if they default. uefa need the big clubs in their competition, not the other way round.
if man city, barcelona, real madrid and man utd opt out of champions league - it will be the death of that competition.

this has nothing to do with the glazers. united generate their funds organically. . . . .we made more than £100m last season to finance the sneijder transfer. moreover, the wages of wes brown, hargreaves, john o'shea, scholes, neville, giggs, obertan, nick ajose and all the other players we sold should compensate for sneijder's transfer.

when nani wins a treble, he can think of increasing his wages in the same echelon as sneijder. . . .what has rooney done for man utd to be commanding £250k a week? if we agree rooney is worth that in wages, how much should sneijder be worth per week?

it will be criminal for a player like nani to compare himself with wesley sneijder. sneijder is a world class player. apart from xavi/iniesta, i cannot think of a better midfielder that has done it at the highest level. . . . .putting his team on his shoulders and performing wonders with an average team. you really need to watch 2010 world cup game again or the champions league battle against barcelona. . . .it was sneijder all the way punishing teams like chelsea, bayern, etc to win the treble.

no sell-on value? except we didn't consider that when we bought berbatov in 2009 at the same age for £30 million. rio(£30m) as at 2002 and you are talking about no sell on value. what if sneijder decides to retire with man utd? why should sell-on value be an issue here? when did man utd turn to arsenal or sunderland - clubs who take pride in making profits in the transfer window?

see it this way, barcelona(a club with 99.9999% perfection) have just added alexi sanchez and cesc fabregas to their squad. man utd - a team aspiring to close the gap on barcelona want to persist with giggs, carrick, anderson and fletcher in the midfield? is this even feasible. getting sneijder will not even take us beyond barca, it can only reduce the gap. . . . .not getting sneijder at all would put us under in europe. of course, i agree the present team is good enough to win the premier league - but they are light years below real madrid(sahin, coentrao, altintop, varane) and barcelona.

montelik:

Yes, but do you know how they paid off d PIK loans. They put even more even more debt on d books (granted at a lower interest rate). D debts are still there and will need to be addressed eventually. United go thru a lean spell like btwn '03 - '06 and it could require another CR7 type sale and cash injection to keep things smooth. Also United are not like other clubs, d rules will be followed. David Gill will not bank on d power of G15 to flout regulations.

Giggs still dey here and we are still paying his wages. D 100m you speak off is just revenue not actual profit. Also d revenue has been used to help d signings we already made. Not to mention also balance d wage bill due to Rooney's huge package. Not to mention d improved contracts for Vidic, Evra, Park, Valencia, Smalling, and soon Hernandez. Sneidjer's 220k a week will put United significantly higher than 50% of turnover wage ratio d club pursues.

Personally I agree with you. Sneijder has earned d right to call his price, and yes Rooney's wages are totally ridiculous. But my point is that by d time players like Nani sees d disparity, and with  Young also on a reported 100k. You can be sure he will want a significant pay rise about say 120k. We have moved out most off dead wood, so unless we let go off one of d slightly bigger squad players (e.g Berba, Park, Carrick) d wage bill is not going to be seeing a substantial reduction any time soon. These are part of d financial consideration that is causing d persistent "price haggling" and also why SAF slyly invited PSG to bid for Berba.

Rio was 24 then not 27, also United were a debt free plc that didn't have to consider debt or interest payments. Also it is exactly cos of Berba transfer and situation that I am sure United are being skeptical of just dropping d dough for Sneidjer. It is a significant expenditure, one that has to be right and cover d clubs a** if doesn't work out. Even Inter want to remove d burden of Sneidjer's huge wages to help build their squad.

Mr_TA:

At the time when Madrid wanted to buy CRonaldo from us, They offered Sneijder as part of a player +cash deal but he wasnt interested in being a part of a swap deal for Ronaldo. This was reported at the time by his agent. Although SAF wasnt too keen at the time as he wanted all the money but Sneijder's agent came out to say no chance of him being a part of any player+cash deal for Ronaldo which meant there must have been something in it. 

montelik:

^^ Red football's debt is United debts don't think otherwise, despite d accounting presentations.

You are also forgetting that we have given greatly improved contracts to Rooney, Evra, Vidic, Smalling, Park, Valencia and soon Hernadez during this same period. Most of these guys particularly Vidic (captain), Evra and Valencia got significant pay rises as d new establishment of squad. Factor in also d likes of Welbeck and Cleverley. D wages that were cleared by sales have already been made use of in improving contracts for d existing squad, not to mention new signings.

montelik:

D Glazer's can move d debts from Red football unto United's books any moment they want, don't let accounting procedures fool you.

After all immediately after d Glazer's purchased United, they promptly moved debts from Red football straight unto United's books. Red football and United are one and d same.

As for d CR cash. I honestly believe that Gill is deceiving us with d claim that d money is available simply sitting in d bank. I think best case scenario it will made available if absolutely crucial but it has been earmarked for something else if not used elsewhere. e.g paying off some of PIK that were present at d time.

Also I am not saying United can't find d money to finance d deal, I simply pointing out why d club is being cautious in regards to d financial aspects of signing Sneijder.

coogar:



whether school of thought or market of thought, united are paying rooney £250k per week. rooney is not as good as sneijder either for club achievements or country achievements. so if rooney is worth that amount, how much do you think sneijder is worth?

then they should forget about trying to close the gap on barcelona in europe. nobody put a shovel in fergie's mouth when he mentioned his next mission is to close the huge gap between united and barcelona. how's he expected to achieve it without replacing scholes, hargreaves, o'shea, etc in the squad? even with them, we were outclassed - is it without them we would close the gap? gill was foolish enough to let sneijder slip through his fingers 2 yrs ago, he shouldn't mind the price now. that sneijder is now asking for £500k per week is gill's fault, not mine.

david gill must be foolish if he thinks united will not sign 26+ players. . . . . .he was the dude behind ronaldo deal, why didn't he factor sneijder and robben in the ronaldo deal in 2009? real madrid would have given david gill anything he wanted when they were lusting after ronaldo. £60 million + sneijder + robben would have sealed the ronaldo deal back then.

of course, saf rates him highly. enough ex-players have all commented on the sneijder deal that he will be a perfect tool for man utd. ferguson is just using the bargaining power that no one wants sneijder to haggle the lowest price possible. if someone had told you united would spend £50 million in the transfer window without improving their central midfield, would you believe it?

yet, we added jones(panic buy), ashley young(we have giggs, nani, js park, fabio who can play in that role) and de gea(kitkat, lindegaard) but surprisingly, we left the midfield weaker than it was last season and fergie expects united to blow barcelona out of the water. fergie must be a pipe dreamer. i will wait till the 31st before i renew any of my subscription. fergie and gill can kiss my arse.