: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:07 pm  

Nemanja wrote:

Lets be honest. We refused point blank to sell you Heinze *cough* judas *cough*, you would do the same with Torres and us, plus unlike Judas, he won't want to travel along the M62 to join his club's biggest rivals IMO.

Correct.

Joking aside I sincerely doubt you will ever see Torres in a Manchester United shirt.

City maybe.

: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:12 pm  

Chris Dalton wrote:

Correct.

Joking aside I sincerely doubt you will ever see Torres in a Manchester United shirt.

City maybe.

When he leaves us, it will be to Atletico I think.

: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:25 pm  

Top 6 targets according to The Sun Targets according to The Mirror

Top 6 targets according to The Sun Targets according to The Mirror

: Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:10 am  

faxtastic wrote:

i may have missed the point of this post what is it about.

i find it very interesting the different make ups of the 2 sqauds. aussies being along way from europe.but half the sqaud have european heritage names. england sqaud being in the middle of europe having mostly english heritage names

: Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:11 am  

Chris Dalton wrote:

If Fergie does get the full amount I'm thinking Lampard and Essien from Chelsea, Torres from Liverpool and from Arsenal....from Arsenal....

Erm....

It will be interesting to see how the Glazers define Fergie getting the full amount.

Apparently Real are paying the £80m over 4 years. I'm sure that in 4 years time United will have spent over £80m in transfer fees. But then they'd be expected to spend about that without the sale of Ronaldo. Didnt they say at the time of the acquisition that Fergie had a transfer budget of £25m pa?

United would need to spend over £150m over the next 4 years for it truly to be the case that the proceeds from the sale of Ronaldo had been spent on transfers.

: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:35 am  

changa wrote:

i find it very interesting the different make ups of the 2 sqauds. aussies being along way from europe.but half the sqaud have european heritage names. england sqaud being in the middle of europe having mostly english heritage names

1) How long before you get it into your head that English names ARE European names?

2) Of course most of the Australian squad will have European names – they're mostly ethnic Europeans from immigrant stock.

3) The England football squad is a multi-ethnic squad of players. Simple as. The historic nature of immigration to these islands means that many earlier immigrants with what you think of as "European" names have Anglicised them or they have become considered 'normal' English names. The use of 'son' (as in 'Harrison' etc) is a Viking naming convention. Many German names have been Anglicised – if memory serves me, Beales is one that was originally a German name. 'Ingham' has been around centuries but is from the old Saxon. More recent immigration has come from different parts of the globe. In the case of football, many players now come from ethnic backgrounds that are African (England U-21 skipper Nedum Onuaha, for instance) and many from backgrounds where slavery was involved – and this is what I mentioned earlier but you have ignored: that such people often have European names that were given to their ancestors by the slave owners. Or they are from mixed-race relationships and have a European name.

And then different sports attract participants from different communities – thus the England cricket team has players with Asian names (or if you want a "European" name, try Strauss).

There is not, within much of Europe, a pattern of footballers moving from, say, France to England or visa versa before making international commitments to a team. It does happen, as that squad that you listed clearly shows, but it is not a large-scale phenomenon. Perhaps it will happen more in the future, if youngsters born to footballers playing in another country follow in the paternal footsteps and then have the opportunity to make a choice as to which country they represent internationally.

[Matt_Horton]

: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:48 am  

Nowt like carrying on rubbing salt in the wound

Nowt like carrying on rubbing salt in the wound

: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:51 am  

Oldham Rhino wrote: Nowt like carrying on rubbing salt in the wound "They are entitled to laugh, after all, we laughed at them when they were relegated in 2003 and then again in 2006." He should have added on, "...and we'll laugh again when they are relegated in 2010."

Oldham Rhino wrote: Nowt like carrying on rubbing salt in the wound "They are entitled to laugh, after all, we laughed at them when they were relegated in 2003 and then again in 2006." He should have added on, "...and we'll laugh again when they are relegated in 2010."

: Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:05 am  

Nemanja wrote:

I'd love to see Silva / Villa at Old Trafford TBH.

Another player is Pato, now would be the perfect time to jump in and take him from Milan IMO.

If we had kept Ronaldo, I wouldn't have minded Valencia here, but he is just not good enough to be the replacement.

Aguero has also impressed when I've seen him. Benzema is more of a "Fergie player" though, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a bid go in for him.

I'm been very hopeful here, but I do hope that we have got something in place before agreeing to sell Ronaldo, but I aint holding my breath.

I'd love Silva, Benzema and Ribery in an ideal world but I doubt that is going to happen.

A striker is a certainty and Benzema looks the most likely. A wide player is also a cert and I think it's more likely to be Valencia than Silva. That would still leave a huge wedge for an attacking midfielder, fun and games in the next few weeks I would have thought.

: Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:21 am  

There's coverage around today that Vidic could go too, with his wife apparently hankering after warmer climes. Times story.

There's coverage around today that Vidic could go too, with his wife apparently hankering after warmer climes. Times story.