Do United’s signings mark the end for Fergie?
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is one wily old man. The trophy hoarding he has taken as up as a profession has had others cast envious eyes over his managerial abilities. Having managed at Old Trafford for over twenty four years, is Fergie preparing to vacate his role after his twenty fifth year of service?
Whilst until a couple of weeks ago there was not a sound, not even a murmur from Manchester United as to the long term future of Sir Alex. The three titles in a row and Champions League triumph had kept him young, hungry and insatiable in his hunt for more trophies. Yet something seems to have changed and though all I offer is my personal reading of events round Old Trafford, some of the decisions Fergie is making seem to point to him being maybe out of the picture?
For starters one of the only people who can really make an educated guess on when exactly Sir Alex Ferguson will retire is Preston manager and son Darren Ferguson. ‘I can see him doing this year and next and then that might be it for him,’ he told the Guardian just over a year ago. Well if Darren is right he means within the next few weeks. I don’t think Fergie will be clearing out his office at Manchester United yet, but after next season, his 25th year at the club. It looks likely.
Indicators for such a move come from Fergie’s reluctance to sign David Villa and his purchasing of two very young players. Press reports were and still are excited by the prospect of David Villa joining Manchester United this summer. The deal is dead. Not because Manchester United cannot afford him, far from it. Sir Alex himself has declined to make a bid for the player as he believes at 28 yrs old he does not represent value for money. Not sure about that Fergie. Expect Real Madrid to snare the Spanish international forward.
Now this seems a really strange decision, Fergie in recent years has tended not to buy big name players after he had his fingers severely burnt by Juan Sebastian Veron. Dimitar Berbatov is doing a similar thing now. Hence year upon year we see Manchester United linked with big superstar names only for Fergie to ignore them and buy someone else. This year and already for next season he has done the same, yet something smells fishy.
Manchester United need a striker to take the burden off Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov clearly is not and Michael Owen is never going to do the job before something goes pop. David Villa seems the perfect choice to keep Manchester United not only competitive in the Premier League but Europe too. After crashing out against Bayern Munich in the quarter final stage, you would imagine Fergie understood the need for real reinforcements. Instead the next day we hear of a £6 million deal for a complete unknown Mexican striker called Javier Hernandez. The 21 yr old obviously has some talent but he is seen as a long term investment for the club.
Add this along with the signings of Fulham’s Chris Smalling who is only 20 yrs old, Gabriel Obertan 21 and Mame Diouf 22. United look seriously set on purchasing young raw talents for the future. Not players who can make them better now. Is Fergie preparing to leave Manchester United in a healthy position by bringing in a squad for the future? A decline for the services of David Villa underlines this. Though Fergie may not be at United for much longer, he is slowly but surely amassing a new youthful side so the torch can be passed over smoothly to the next conductor of the Old Trafford orchestra.
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Well, I don’t think any recent signings speed up the retirement of the greatest manager we’ve ever seen. Ferguson has signed players in the past for cheap, such as Cantona, Irwin, Schmeichel whilst can spend the money on the likes of Keane, Cole, Veron and Rooney. I think he is conscious as to the value in the transfer market as Villa would cost in the region of £40-50 Million.
I personally don’t believe we need a striker, considering that we adopt a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 for the ‘bigger’ matches in Europe and domestically. So someone like Luka Modric would be a perfect signing for United, although again we are talking silly money.
I don’t believe for one second this is ‘the end’ of Fergie, however we do have a number of serious issues to address off the pitch, which hopefully will be resolved by the Red Knights this summer.
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BTW Veron was exceptional in Europe for United, just didn’t adapt to the pace of our domestic game – but even then he put in some good performances.
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No i dont think so although agreed the current teams is on extreme balance of the old guys as well as with the young unpolished guys…SAF has always bought in players for a certain purpose…Veron was bought in to worked United European stage and it worked…he did also scored crucial goals in the PL as well…Berba is a class act only i think he is not suited to MU style…the rest mostly are bought at a time with exceptional talent/youth on their side eg Anderson,Nani,Vidic,Evra,Hargreaves,Ronaldo,Rooney,Rio and on…and also now due to the crazy market price when even crap players can cost up to 20-30 million…having said,i would love SAF to buy more established names like Benzema/Dzenko,Van Der Vaart/Sneijder,Ribery/Silva,Rodwell etc to replace the outgoing legends as well as instantly weeding those surplus players who is not good enough or those who may well not get any playing time to prove otherwise…
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Jesus Christ, Have you even noticed how old David Villa is? With him relying mostly on his pace to score goals he is hardly a good choice since in about 2 years time he will start to losing his pace and will become less and less effective.
I’d much rather Fergie bought player like Hernandez and I’m happy that he is buying such players.
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I think Ferguson is making the right call in not signing Villa. He will cost a fortune at £40 million and is 28. It will be difficult for him to adapt to Englsih football so late in his career. He is better of going to Real Madrid and I think that will happen this summer. That could lead to Madrid letting Benzema leave, possibly to Old Trafford. Fergie is a fan of Benzema and the lad is younger at 22 and would cost around £20-25 million. However there is nothing wrong with us signing young player who are not big names and developing them. Hernandez and Smalling could prove to be bargains in 2 years. Even Tosic is showing in Germany that he is a good player. If he has a good World Cup and can see Fergie bringing him back next season. Obertan looked bigger and stronger yesterday against City, and they have clearly been doing gym work with him. He might have a big role next season. The fans get frustrated when they don’t make an immediate impact but sometimes we need to be patient and give these young guys time. Obertan, Hernandez, Diouf, Tosic, Macheda, Smalling and Cleverly could all still have big futures for us.
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