It's not about who I want us to sign. If I had my way we'd go all out for Hummels, Varane, Benatia etc but at the same time there are surely better players out there than De Vrij who yes looked decent at times during the world cup but he falls in to the same category as Jones/Smalling as young defenders learning their way rather than that experienced defender who'll be our leader at the back.
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It's not about who I want us to sign. If I had my way we'd go all out for Hummels, Varane, Benatia etc but at the same time there are surely better players out there than De Vrij who yes looked decent at times during the world cup but he falls in to the same category as Jones/Smalling as young defenders learning their way rather than that experienced defender who'll be our leader at the back.
Nothing of substance from anyone worth listening to.
Ending the window with 3 defenders less than we had last year is not decent - it's a catastrophy. But of course I don't believe that will happen
Two young CBs as in Jones and who ? Because as far as I am concerned Smalling at 24 isn't exactly young and should be ready to play for United week in-week out just as Rio and Vidic were, if not then he is not good enough and may never be.
I believe that the three of Jones, Smalling and Evans are good enough, talent wise, it's just that they haven't been allowed a consistent run in the side due to the presence of a top class partnership and their own fitness issues. It's also easy to forget that Evans and Smalling have performed well when called upon for sustained periods e.g during the height of Rio's back problems or when Vidic did his knee. De Vrij, in this scenario would be the perfect signing for competition and cover, with Evans being our mainstay and the other three fighting to partner him.
If he is somebody who can stay fit, that is a good start. Our defence is weak as they can't stay fit for five minutes, not lack of talent. Smalling and Jones have rarely played in their preferred position. Evan is the most experienced but is always picking up injuries.
Okay Chris might not be a young defender anymore but he hasn't yet reached the potential we hoped and also a horrible track record with injuries, as have the other two. If we went in to next season with Jones/Smalling/Evans/De Vrij I'd personally be worried, that for me isn't a title challenging central defense. I also seem to rate Jonny Evans a lot less than many people on here.
And this is why we need more than just bringing in De Vrij. Next season we need a settled back four, unlike we had last season. I'd still question Rafael, Luke Shaw will be our left back no questions asked but we also have no cover for him and as you've said neither Jones/Smalling/Evans stay fit for 5 minutes. Ideally if we bring in De Vrij fine but I'd also like to see us bring in that top class center back, that experienced leader who'd be the main stay in the defense.
I think de Vrij and Vermaelen would actually be a decent start but I'd say we need a defender who's as good as Evans is at his best who's less bloody injury prone, in fact we need to bubble wrap our defenders for next season! Have we taken any youth defenders on the tour?Ending the window with 3 defenders less than we had last year is not decent - it's a catastrophy. But of course I don't believe that will happen
Rafael's issue is his fitness, we need to provide him with some competition, brilliant player when fit the only issue is that he's never fit.
Hope there is some substance to this, and there isn't a little bit of "to me, to you" going on with this news.
Jones has the ability and attributes to be a top centre back and also one of the teams leaders. Needs to play every week in that position for the next year or two and alongside Evans who is more passive, he could flourish. While a top cb is desirable, I don't want one to come in and leave Jones moving about as a utility player and never really fulfilling his potential.
Ending the window with 3 defenders less than we had last year is not decent - it's a catastrophy. But of course I don't believe
I almost forgot about that. Rafael has no competition for the RB and Shaw needs competition at the LB.
I agree if would be great to get an experience CB in as well. De Vrij will give us numbers as we don't want to see an even more inexperienced kid being played there.
Yep like my friend who owns a large company. He'll tell you he has no fancy education or degree but he does have an office full of people who have and guess what they all work for him.
I personally rate Smalling defensively but on the ball he is way off the standard we'd expect. Evans without the fitness issues is good enough imo but I certainly get where you are coming from.
If the talk about LVG wanting to play 3 at the back as well then we'd certainly need more than just 4 first team central defenders though I believe we'll line up 4-3-3 most weeks. I'm not questioning signing De Vrij, he has a very good world cup (though that sometimes doesn't really give you an indication how good a player is) but losing Rio/Vida leaves me thinking we need an experienced top class defender this window.
The Chilean media don't give up do they 
On the Nedved quote: http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/tran...-consider-vidal-or-pogba?ICID=SP_HN_HP_RI_0_3
This is Goal quoting Tutto Sport as their source.
"Our strategy is clear; we want to keep all our best players, including Vidal and Pogba," he told Tuttosport. "We don't want to sell anyone, especially Vidal.
"Certainly, if there were a high bid for them, we'd have to think about it but we don't want to sell our champions.
"We want to be competitive in the Champions League and the only sales to be players who are not part of our plans."
This is Goal quoting Tutto Sport as their source.
"Our strategy is clear; we want to keep all our best players, including Vidal and Pogba," he told Tuttosport. "We don't want to sell anyone, especially Vidal.
"Certainly, if there were a high bid for them, we'd have to think about it but we don't want to sell our champions.
"We want to be competitive in the Champions League and the only sales to be players who are not part of our plans."
Chilevision has got to be the best name for any media outlet, ever.
Their persistence may be down to actual substance in this.The Chilean media don't give up do they
Followed closely by fellow Chilean media outlet, El Periscopio.
I hadn't heard of that one yet.Holy shit.. el periscopio?!?
They prolly converted it form euros; which is around 250k,
Disagree. With the deterioration of results/performances last season, some glaring weaknesses and a loss of many experienced contributors, we should be looking at a lot more than shaw and Herrera. Our midfield and central defense needs strengthening, and we could do with a winger too.
It was another one with some Vidal news earlier in the week. Their names are great!Yep, it's in this thread somewhere!
Which newspaper had the "Done Dealio" headline?This story is picking up momentumn in Chile
They are all quoting El Mercurio.
It's beyond embarrassing. They'll start calling Wayne "Mickey" next.
EMOL is EL Mercurio (and a few other outlets combined).
A quick glance at their twitter feed seems to show they have even more terrible puns.
None, that was that Serge Fagelman who photoshopped a newspaper.
Emol is El Mercurio (El Mercurio Online = EMOL)So they want £7.9M. Hardly extortionate.
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