Manchester United is becoming similar to Arsenal, Ferguson happy
After just equalling Liverpool’s record of 18 league titles and then surrendering the Premier League crown to Chelsea the expectation for Manchester United is to come back stronger and mount a substantial challenge to take their crown. But as things stand it doesn’t seem likely that they will be able to. The lack of an attacking impetus was brutally exposed last year and yet Ferguson is turning a blind eye to his team’s apparent problems.
United have only bought Javier Hernandez and Cris Smalling this year and that simply is not going to be enough considering the shortfall they have in almost every department on the pitch. United’s recent transfer policy has become mind boggling to say the least. They don’t buy established players anymore. Luis Fabiano, David Villa and David Silva all made clear their desire to play for United, yet, United failed to secure a single one of them.
Their new policy is to only sign young fresh blood as young players don’t demand high wages and have a good resale value. It’s not that they buy every player with their resale value in mind but they are becoming the new Arsenal.
They are only buying players, who, no one has ever heard of. There are claims that there is a huge pot of money available for transfers yet all the evidence is on the contrary and the manager is h**l bent upon ignoring the obvious weaknesses and flaws in the team. These are all the things that were once associated with Arsenal but United are now following suit.
Arsenal is in a much better financial position than United but that is not the point here. United’s transfer policy is one of a selling club. Foreign players will always demand to be transferred to the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Inter as players tend not to stay at the club unless they hail from the area and it’s only natural. Players like Obertan, Hernandez and Diouf will at some point in their careers demand a transfer and United will sell them for a princely sum but then what is the point of buying them in the first place. United have never been like that in their history but is becoming like that.
Ferguson constantly claims that he is happy with the squad that he has and is delighted at his youngster coming through the academy. But if you be honest the situation is far from satisfactory. Hernandez is not yet ready for first team action and will only play a bit part role next season, Danny Wellback is a championship player at best and there are already talks of him being loaned out, Da Silva twins are great going forward but they can’t defend to save their lives and Obertan looks like he sniffs glue. So how is the situation at United great?
Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville are spending their last hurrahs at United and cannot be depended upon to give stellar performances anymore. Couple that with Van der Sar not being as great as he once was and yet Ferguson remains happy with his squad.
United’s team next season should look like:
Akinfeev in goal, Lahm at right back, Rio and Vidic at centre back, Evra at left back, Valencia, Sniejder, Fletcher and Nani on the wings and Rooney and Benzema upfront but it will not and instead it will look like:
Van der sar in goal, Neville/Rafael at right back, Rio and Vidic at centre back, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes and Giggs in the midfield and Rooney and Park upfront.
If that be the case, Manchester United can forget about ever winning the Premier League. The ship is sinking and Ferguson needs to stand up and take notice rather than being ‘happy with the development of the youth’.
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