[FromTheBench]

The player has said that United were talking to his representatives straight after the world cup. So as people have said we have no idea who they are talking to.

I think we probably knew Vermaelen with Arsenal was never gonna be easy with other clubs interested as well, so sounded out other potential targets in that area as well to gauge their interest. Sead Kolasinac seemingly has said that United made a offer for him and been watching him etc..

So probably had fallbacks ready. Seems LVG really wanted Vermaelen though so we tried our hardest to wait on that first.

 

[entropy]

Let me dumb it down for you.

Barca.are.an.exception.Having.youth.like.that.coming.through.your.system.is.not.the.norm.

Even with that they have signed neymar, suarez, that ukrainian defender, henry, etoo,etc in the recent past for big money.

Barca is an exception, my arse. Dont pull out this nonsense.No one expected barca to dominate like they did under pep, the fans included. Fans like yourself, want guarantees or assurances as to whether or not the team will be successful, because under fergie United was very close to that. Going by your amateur theory, Barca have managed to be successful while majority of their big money signings failed miserably to contribute to their success during this period.If Barca are an exception, United are as well for managing to reach two cl finals after getting rid of their best players in tevez,ronaldo.

 

[sincher]

I think we were after both to be frank. Primarily Vermaelen as the leading CB and Rojo as another CB but could cover in LB if necessary. Part of me is still expecting another center back and midfielder but I think that as of now, with blacket showing promise we might not need another center back.

We do need a centre back IMO, and I rate all of Smalling, Jones, and Evans... and Blackett, Michael Keane and Thorpe have a chance too. I still think we need a leader here. Maybe, just maybe, it could be Evans but he seems a bit quiet and he keeps getting cocking injured.

 

[bishblaize]

You know, £16M feels pretty much spot on here. There's always room for arguing a player is worth plus or minus two or three million quid. But generally speaking, it feels about right.

Before the World Cup, with two decent seasons with Sporting, maybe he'd be worth £10-12M. But add in the inevitable World Cup tax, and you're there. Certainly don't feel we overpaid this time round.

 

[Loublaze]

Benatia, Hummels(v.unlikely), marquinhos(possible) would make more of an immediate impact.

More of an immediate impact you say...how are you certain of this? Players with big reputations have flopped in this league before you know. You're knocking Rojo simply because you never heard of him before the world cup. Do you even watch those other players in their domestic leagues on the regular? I doubt you'd mention them specifically if not for our links with two of them. Marquinhos hasn't even fully settled into PSG and even though he is very talented he is still a work in progress.

 

[Elliott]

Very pleased with this signing. I liked what I saw at the WC and a lot of people who know what they're talking about seem to rate him. Young, versatile, talented, needed - what's not to like?

 

[Sassy Colin]

So has he had his medical & agreed personal terms yet?

 

[Spielmacher]

So has he had his medical & agreed personal terms yet?

Nope.

 

[kouroux]

I hope the first question they ask him during his interview is "When will Di Maria sign ?"

 

[Eric'sCollar]

Well personal terms have been agreed, I assume the medical will be today.

 

[Sassy Colin]

Nope.

So they've already got Nani & we might end up with nothing still?

Seems like a Woodward special, or is this how transfers normally work?

 

[Mali_Zeus]

So they've already got Nani & we might end up with nothing still?

Seems like a Woodward special, or is this how transfers normally work?

It has been announced on our official page, so don't panic.

 

[Spielmacher]

Well personal terms have been agreed, I assume the medical will be today.

No, the deal with Sporting has been agreed, medical and personal terms with Rojo still need to be done says the official United homepage and Twitter page.

 

[FromTheBench]

They still have to do a medical on Nani as well presumably.

 

[Spielmacher]

 

[Eric'sCollar]

No, the deal with Sporting has been agreed, medical and personal terms with Rojo still need to be done says the official United homepage and Twitter page.

So we put in a bid for a player who we have not talked to yet?

I know what the clubs site and twitter says but these personal terms are always agreed before the bid. Rojo has also said he has signed for Man Utd.

 

[Spielmacher]

So we put in a bid for a player who we have not talked to yet?

I know what the clubs site and twitter says but these personal terms are always agreed before the bid. Rojo has also said he has signed for Man Utd.

Just read what the club said, doesn't mean we haven't talked to him, they just haven't officially signed the contract yet.

 

[Sultan]

I think we were after both to be frank. Primarily Vermaelen as the leading CB and Rojo as another CB but could cover in LB if necessary. Part of me is still expecting another center back and midfielder but I think that as of now, with blacket showing promise we might not need another center back.

Too much similarity between players to suggest United were after both Rojo, and Vermaelen. Left footed, and both can fill in left back positions and centrally.

 

[Sultan]

So we put in a bid for a player who we have not talked to yet?

I know what the clubs site and twitter says but these personal terms are always agreed before the bid. Rojo has also said he has signed for Man Utd.

It will all have been agreed with the players agent. I think what remains is the medical, and the signing ceremony.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

It will all have been agreed with the players agent. I think what remains is the medical, and the signing ceremony.

That's what I said...

 

[Spielmacher]

Probably just a vocal agreement yet, but I wouldn't worry too much about it, he is totally eager to join us it looks.

 

[MJJ]

Thiago Silva is dominating Ligue 1 for instance. Him and Benatia and Marquinhos, they all have weaker oponnents than in PL.

Not significantly weaker though and silva has also proven himself in the CL.

You're a muppet.

Well when you look at our youth system or development team specifically...

Januzjai, Pogba, Ronaldo, Rafael, Welbeck, Evans, Piquet, Rossi over the past 10 years, our system doesn't look so bad hey...

And before I get some bullshit about Ronaldo, he was nothing more than a player with potential when he signed with us. Nothing like Gotze or Rooney etc. This is a player that was developed by Manchester United.

So effectively, you look at the 10 year period in which Xavi first broke through and all the rest that followed along, and compare that with Ronaldo in 2003 and the 10 years that followed from that, I'd say our academies have both been excellent in churning out youth talent.

You do know that ronaldo and rafael arent our youth products? Both of them never played for our academy either so no idea why you are including them.

None of our youth players of the past ten years are of the level of that barca generation but yeah label me a muppet for being disappointed with the signing of rojo. Am sure you were saying the same when we signed young, berba, valencia, fellaini,etc.

 

[MJJ]

I guess the problem is that by seemingly refining our target to a left footed CB has meant those that fit the bill are significantly below this level as also show by us targeting Vermaelen. I'd argue that it's a problem in itself but if we're going this way then we're limiting ourselves to someone like Rojo. Whether it proves to be a good move, who knows.

We wanted a left footer CB to begin with, it clearly seems. And no Marquinhos won't make a more immediate impact in the English league even more so. He didn't even make a immediate impact in the French league that much and is more of a project.

Benatia i agree on but that's if he's available with Bayern's interest and we want another CB. He would have to play central of the 3.

In that case, play blackett or a youth CB there. Why go out and buy someone who wont greatly improve our first team Would much rather give a youngster a chance.

Evans is pretty ambidextrous as well so he could have played as a LCB.

 

[MJJ]

Barca is an exception, my arse. Dont pull out this nonsense.No one expected barca to dominate like they did under pep, the fans included. Fans like yourself, want guarantees or assurances as to whether or not the team will be successful, because under fergie United was very close to that. Going by your amateur theory, Barca have managed to be successful while majority of their big money signings failed miserably to contribute to their success during this period.If Barca are an exception, United are as well for managing to reach two cl finals after getting rid of their best players in tevez,ronaldo.

Do you even know what you are arguing for? How is any of that related to barca's exceptional youth academy?

 

[MJJ]

More of an immediate impact you say...how are you certain of this? Players with big reputations have flopped in this league before you know. You're knocking Rojo simply because you never heard of him before the world cup. Do you even watch those other players in their domestic leagues on the regular? I doubt you'd mention them specifically if not for our links with two of them. Marquinhos hasn't even fully settled into PSG and even though he is very talented he is still a work in progress.

You are right, have no idea who hummels is.

Marquinhos' s career I have been following for a while and similarly with benatia when he was in udinese. But yeah believe what you wanna believe.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Rojo, Mushroom, Mushroom.

The J is silent? The fucj you on about?

It's actually pronounced "Roj-Hoi".

Silent J. Silent I.

Just a few comments I thought funny.

Any idea whether he's fit enough to start on Sunday?

 

[starman]

Sporting have got a incredible deal. Nani on loan and 20% sell on fee for anything over 18.4m...

 

[The Red Thinker]

Too much similarity between players to suggest United were after both Rojo, and Vermaelen. Left footed, and both can fill in left back positions and centrally.

I'd say that's good transfer work. We negotiated both deals and one was a back-up for each other's falling out. Rojo mentioned on Argentine radio that we'd been talking to him since the middle of the WC, and that we told him we'd wait for him when all this third party nonsense surfaced.

I'm quite pleased that we had a longview of the situation and it goes to show that it's not as if we don't have a clue as to what is happening in the window. We're working multiple deals.

Woodward is probably to blame for some of it but I think LVG himself is also part of it. He said that he wanted time to assess the players who hadn't come to the tour in the US. His words were: "Signing a player is not a problem. Believe me, we can sign a player in 24 hours."

The fact that he hasn't panicked and probably has waited to see if he's a 100% sure he wants to buy says that he's confident of acquiring the right targets.

Let's put some perspective here, we've been living and breathing this nightmare for the past 12 months and more. LVG hasn't. He's a stubborn man and we love him for that but the downside to that is that he'll want to individually assess his squad regardless of what anyone has to say. He'll make his own mind up.

Of course, I'm not naive enough to believe that he hasn't put out a few must-want names, but those names are hard to get. Vidal is the centre-piece of Juve's crown and Di Maria is one of the best wingers in the world playing for the other super-giant in football.

These are hard deals and even Gill would have struggled to bring them in. When was the last time we bought an established superstar to the club? I can't remember any in the last 10 years. RVP was a special case as he hadn't won much under Wenger. There's no one else that comes to mind.
Today we're trying to sign two! So let's just wait and hope. The club knows what it's doing.

 

[itso 7]

In that case, play blackett or a youth CB there. Why go out and buy someone who wont greatly improve our first team Would much rather give a youngster a chance.

Evans is pretty ambidextrous as well so he could have played as a LCB.

So you would rather spend the month with Young and Blackett as our left side of defence ? We bought him as cover for lb and cb,he is certainly adequate for that but has the potential to grow into a more important member of the team.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Not significantly weaker though and silva has also proven himself in the CL.

Not significantly weaker but weaker. And who knows maybe he had weak oponnents in the CL.

 

[FacerTheRed]

An okay signing but its just more glue over a cracked wall. Need 1 or 2 marquee signings to compete for that top four spot.

 

[Sad Chris]

Why did you include Jones' name in brackets? He wasn't even in the conversation nor was his name in my post. Odd.

Sorry then, maybe I misunderstood. I thought your comment and video was referring to Joga Bonito's post...

 

[Loony BoB]

Just can't shake off how he looks like he's from Geordie Shore...

 

[MJJ]

Not significantly weaker but weaker. And who knows maybe he had weak oponnents in the CL.

So now you agree with my weaker opponents argument?Glad you finally saw sense.

So you would rather spend the month with Young and Blackett as our left side of defence ? We bought him as cover for lb and cb,he is certainly adequate for that but has the potential to grow into a more important member of the team.

Yes or buy someone who will be first choice.

 

[itso 7]

So now you agree with my weaker opponents argument?Glad you finally saw sense.


Yes or buy someone who will be first choice.

What if we can't sign someone who will be first choice and is able to cover two positions ? Accept that and continue losing ? We don't know what LvG's got planned or how he views Rojo so it's premature to slate the signing.

 

[Dr Baltar]

I'd rather play Rojo in the middle & continue to play Blackett on the left. If anyone deserves to be dropped based on Saturday it's certainly not him.

 

[saivet]

I'd rather play Rojo in the middle & continue to play Blackett on the left. If anyone deserves to be dropped based on Saturday it's certainly not him.

I think it would be better off him playing LWB whilst Shaw is out.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

So now you agree with my weaker opponents argument?Glad you finally saw sense.


Yes or buy someone who will be first choice.

No, I'm just pointing out how you change your arguments from post to post.

 

[Im red2]

Well he is certainly a Red as that is his surname

 

[Sly]

I suspect that the portuguese league is well lower in terms of quality then the dutch league or even the same portuguese league ronaldo played in. As i said i have no problem if rojo is seen as buttners replacement but we need someone better to shore the cb mess

The dutch league? The same dutch league that their clubs are constantly beat by portuguese teams in the european competitions? The same dutch league that hasn´t reached an european cup final in god knows how many years? Why are you talking about things you are virtually clueless about?