Dimitar Berbatov who has had a torrid for Manchester United may be playing in the Bundesliga next season. He might be swapped to bring in Edin Dzeko from Wolfsburg.
Dzeko has been linked with a move to Old Trafford since last season. United confirmed their interest in Dzeko when United’s no. 2 Mike Phelan rated the striker "ideal for the English league."
Wolfsburg played against United last season in the Group stages of the Champions League. Sir Alex had fancied the striker when he scored a goal at the Theater of Dreams. So will Dzeko arrive at OT? The answer is Yes.
Edin Dzeko may be signed by the Red Devils in a deal that will see Dimitar Berbatov move to Wolfsburg. The Bulgarian has not shown the quality for which Sir Alex paid $31mn to Spurs. He too has been frustrated with his performances and might fancy going back to Bundesliga where he used to play earlier.
The appointment of Steve McClaren as manager of Wolfsburg may help in finalizing this deal. The ex-England manager was a deputy to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United before he moved on to take new challenges. So it would be easy to persuade him and Wolfsburg to let their prized striker move to England.
Edin Dzeko has been a long time target for Chelsea, Arsenal and AC Milan. But with Steve McClaren at the helm of Wolfsburg, I think it will be somewhat easy for United to sign Dzeko.
Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid last season for a record breaking fee. Though his form has been consistent for the Spanish side, but with the change of their manager, I wonder whether we can bring Ronaldo back to OT.
Real Madrid have announced the sacking of Manuel Pellegrini, paving the way for Jose Mourinho to take up the vacant Bernabeu hotseat. Its only a matter of time when the Special One will be unveiled as the new manager of Real Madrid.
Jose has special admiration for some of his Chelsea and Inter players and may bring them to Madrid. In such a case, its going to be difficult for Ronaldo to cement his place in the team.
Moreover, Jose and Ronaldo were never in awe of each other when they were in the Premier League. I remember, Jose saying that he would like to add Wayne Rooney and Thierry Henry to his Chelsea side then.
The Special One is known to be a firm believer in the importance of team work. He issued a stern warning to Real Madrid 'Stars' saying that there are no stars in his team. His message to the players of Real Madrid was, "If I train them, they are not stars, the star is not the coach, the star is the team. If they all accept this like when I was at Porto, Chelsea or Inter, the victories will come."
There's no doubt that both Ronaldo and Jose have huge egos and if Ronaldo isn't treated like a star, he's surely going to move on. So can Sir Alex bring CR7 back to OT?
Sir Alex generally doesn't like to pay extravagant prices to bring stars to Manchester United. However, he had said that he would spend $60mn to bring Ronaldo back to OT. I hope his contract has a buy-back clause. If it is there, then Ronaldo might be "The only" signing that Sir Alex has been referring since last week.
What say folks? Can we bring Cristiano Ronaldo back to the Theatre of Dreams?
Simon Kjaer is one of the brightest young talents in football right now. He has been a consistent performer in the Serie A for his side Palermo. So like every young player, Kjaer now wants a move to the Premier League.
Simon Kjaer has been a target for Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. In fact, he could have been signed by Sir Alex Ferguson in the winter transfer market last season. However, Palermo did not approve the deal and Sir Alex ended up signing Chris Smalling from Fulham and Marnick Vermijl from Standard Liege.
21-year-old Kjaer has attracted the interests from English clubs as well as Juventus and Barcelona but is waiting for a firm offer from "the right club" before making a decision on his future. Palermo director Walter Sabatini has indicated his desire to let Kjaer leave the club for a fee of £10 million which is a release clause in his contract.
While praising his client, Kjaer's agent Mikkel Beck said "He's a quality defender, young but with the head of an older, experienced player. He's very mature for his age, and he takes responsibility in a very good Palermo side."
BTW Kjaer is from Denmark and forms a solid partnership for his country alongside Daniel Agger. Also, he has grown up supporting Liverpool.
So what do you think folks? Will Simon Kjaer wear a Man United shirt next season?
The departure of Ben Foster to Birmingham City has provided him with an opportunity to do better for himself. His exit from Old Trafford has also done good for Ben Amos, who becomes the third keeper for Manchester United.
Ben Amos is a talented young goalkeeper who has been capped by England at youth level. More detailed bio of Amos can be found here.
Amos, 20, has made just one first-team appearance (vs Middlesbrough in the Carling Cup third round in 2008/09), although he has consistently impressed for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reserve team this term.
Sir Alex Ferguson was planning to loan Amos next season so that he could get more competitive football. But with Ben Foster gone, he intends to keep Amos at OT. Sir Alex said, "He will now be our third keeper. He's very talented and has a good future ahead of him."
A keen learner, Ben has his sights set on regular first team involvement. I doubt whether he'll play for the first team next season. VDS and Kuszczak would definitely be the main stoppers. Also Sir Alex is looking for a long term replacement of VDS and has been linked with many keepers.
It's a matter of time that he brings a new goalie at OT. But Amos is young and will definitely get his chances to play at the top level for Manchester United.
Owen Hargreaves is one of the versatile midfielders in the world. Sir Alex Ferguson has been a keen admirer of the Englishman and tried to sign him (unsuccessfully) twice when he was at Bayern Munich. Hargreaves did finally come to Old Trafford but has not really been able to show his real class. The reason - his recurring tendonitis problem.
Hargreaves had not been seen in a United shirt since September 2008 following double knee surgery to cure a tendonitis problem. He made only a fleeting appearance when he returned to action for the final seconds of United's victory at Sunderland which was the 37th game of the season.
Owen Hargreaves' appearance on the field marked the completion of a long and frustrating journey for the midfielder. Its was great to see him back in action, but I wonder what role will he play next season.
The Red Devils clearly lacked some creativity in the midfield this season. Injuries to Hargreaves and Anderson kept them out of the game while Michael Carrick was not up to the mark this season. This left Scholes with a lot of work to do and he was occasionally supported by Fletcher, Giggs and O'Shea while our regular midfielders remained injured.
Sir Alex has been linked with a lot of central/defensive midfielders so far. I feel he'll bring on someone to act as back up for Hargreaves and as a long term replacement for Scholes.
So what role will Owen Hargreaves play next season?
The 29-year-old is delighted to be back and feels he has plenty left in the tank yet. He said,
I’ve missed two seasons and I’m disappointed about that. But I’m 29 and hopefully I’ve got another six to eight years left in me.
Being out for so long is obviously not something I would have envisaged myself going through. It’s been a learning experience and I try and take the positives from it and get ready to attack next season.
Hargreaves has been left out of Fabio Capello's squad for WC 2010 and that would give him enough time to rest. Hopefully, he should be able to play full 90 minutes during United's pre-season games. I think after watching his performances in those games, it will be easier to judge his role for the Red Devils next season. What do you think?
Wayne Rooney who limped off in yesterday's last league game of the season against Stoke will be fit for the World Cup, according to Mike Phelan.
Manchester United assistant-boss said, that Rooney will be fit in time to play a full part in England's World Cup campaign. This news comes just a day before England coach Fabio Capello announces his 30-man provisional World Cup squad.
Capello has been concerned about Rooney ever since he got injured in the Champions League game against Bayern Munich. His ankle injury saw him leave the Allianz Arena on crutches. The entire nation (and their coach) were highly worried about Rooney's prospects of making it to South Africa for WC 2010.
Mike Phelan provided a much needed positive news by insisting that Rooney will be fit to do himself justice in South Africa. He said,
He should be okay. All the phone calls and all the worries we can dispel straight away. He should be fine. It is just a precaution and he will be looking forward to his World Cup.
Sir Alex Ferguson also added confident words by saying, "Wayne has aggravated his groin again. I don't think it is serious. I think he will be okay for England."
Jonny Evans has committed the next four years to Manchester United by signing a new contract at Old Trafford. This contract has taken a lot of time since both the parties were involved in negotiations for several months.
There was lot of speculation about the contract of Evans. Not that he intended to leave the club but he wanted a wage hike. So finally both the parties have come to a consensus and his commitment to the club is confirmed by this news item on ManUtd.com
The Northern Ireland defender will stay with the Red Devils until at least June 2014. His signature on the dotted line means he's a natural replacement for the aging Rio Ferdinand. Nemanja Vidic has also been speculated for a move away from OT in the summer; so if he departs, Evans will get a chance to play in the back four on a regular basis.
Sir Alex Ferguson expressed his joy at the news in a club press statement:
We are delighted Jonny has signed a new contract. Jonny has risen through the United ranks to become an integral part of the first-team squad, he is an intelligent defender and has been excellent in the central defensive positions at key times during the season.
On his long term commitment to Manchester United, Jonny Evans said:
I am delighted to have signed a new contract. I’ve supported Manchester United all my life and it’s a great honour to be able to continue to wear the badge of this great club. I’d like to thank the staff, players and fans for their continued support in my development.
Edwin van der Sar's spectacular stop from Fabrice Muamba was voted Save of the Season by ManUtd.com readers.
More than 4000 United fans voted in the poll and here are the results:
- Edwin van der Sar v Bolton (26.8%)
- Ben Foster v Arsenal (13.8%)
- Edwin van der Sar v Liverpool (11.8%)
But contrasting to fans opinion, United’s goalkeeper coach Eric Steele considers Ben Foster's save at White Hart Lane from Jermaine Jenas as the Save of the Season. The reason he picked Foster's stop is due to "the amount of work that went into making the save."
Steele, who joined United's coaching ranks in August 2008, said
The shot’s been curled around a defender, which means Ben’s seen it late. He’s had to take an extra step before launching himself and not only does he get a hand to the ball, he gets a strong hand to ensure he tips it around the post.
What also made this save so special was its context: it was just after half-time when we were leading 2-1. A goal for Tottenham would have let them right back into the game.
He did praise VDS’s effort and said, “Sometimes Edwin’s labeled as a goalkeeper who’s very calm and good with the ball at his feet. But he’s also capable of making world-class saves and the one at Bolton is a prime example of that.”
Steele also voted Tomasz Kuszczak's flying stop from Jamie O'Hara at Fratton Park as one of the best saves. He described the save as “out of this world.”
Steele’s choices barely got any votes from the fans. Its surprising how the opinion of fans and the coach differ so much!
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